


Red on Black

by dragynfyre18



Category: Pitch Black - Fandom, Riddick - Fandom, The Chronicles of Riddick Series, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-26 03:18:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 50
Words: 237,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3835003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragynfyre18/pseuds/dragynfyre18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young woman falsely locked-up in a Cryogenic Lab during the 21st century is finally released 500 years later. She is transported with a Doctor and a Soldier on the Hunter Gratzner. She hopes to find freedom after centuries of semiconscious torture, but once she meets Riddick all bets are off. When the Hunter Gratzner crashes, all they both want, is to survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rehtaeh

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, Chronicles of Riddick, or Riddick. It is not my intention to make any profit off this works, it is purely for personal enjoyment. I own only my Original Characters and changes to the original plotline.

Rehtaeh  
The year was 2052, her mother desperately wanted children, but her father was sterile. So they opted to get a donor and have an in vitro operation. They wanted strong children, the world was a harsh place and they wanted their children to thrive. Her father had hopes that his sons would follow in his footsteps and join the military or space programs. So they meticulously chose a donor; someone with a high IQ, better than average health, stamina, and physique. The donor selected was also similar in coloring, bone structure and size as her father, which would make it easier to avoid the inevitable questions about heritage and ancestry. It would also help him to avoid extra attention from the media. This was important since he was a high ranking military officer and was often in the media, relaying information put forth by the Company Rangers Intergalactic Research Division.  
His wife had been moved into a top secret medical facility to ensure privacy and security. The fact that multiple births were predominant in her mother’s family history, and the increased odds due to in vitro fertilization, meant that she would need a safe, quiet place during her prenatal care. This was to ensure her health as well as the health of the babies. It wasn’t long before the couple was informed that she was indeed carrying multiples. In 2053, the family was blessed with septuplets, seven babies all at one time. It was a very difficult pregnancy, followed by a precarious natural birth. Somehow, all of the children survived and her mother made it through the ordeal in good health. Six boys and one girl, their family was immediate and large and boisterous and loud.  
Her father was a very strict military man. He insisted that his children be trained in a military style from a very young age. As soon as they could walk their training began. All of the children were expected to attend both physical and artistic development programs. The physical aspect was easy, every one of them were enrolled in a martial arts academy that taught several different types of hand to hand combat. When it came to the arts programs, her father insisted that they be trained specifically in music. The children had different tastes. While her brothers chose piano, cello, violin, guitar, saxophone and trumpet, she had a hard time finding an instrument that she would commit to learning. She tried playing several instruments before she chose percussion. The drums specifically, she played with a punk rock band much to her father’s chagrin, to appease him she also took classical vocal lessons. She also took art classes, she loved painting, drawing and writing. Her days were filled from the time she woke to the time she went to bed.  
When the children turned five, they were enrolled and educated in the Alliance Military Cadet Program. They were all exemplary students all of them took the rankings at the top of their classes. The boys were outgoing and surrounded themselves with friends and their peers. She preferred being in her own mind rather than integrating into the social norms of her family and those outside of her family. She did not have many friends and rarely socialized with her classmates. Many of her teachers and mentors worried about her intensely anti-social behavior; it wasn’t until her mid teen years that she was diagnosed with a severe sensory issue that kept her from being comfortable around other people.  
She preferred hobbies such as painting and drawing as they helped her to release her inner thoughts without creating turmoil for those around her. To outsiders, she would come across as a beautiful diminutive wraith, but her brothers could attest that she was a fierce opponent in the sparring ring and she could quickly take them down in a match. Her quiet demeanor hid an intensely passionate side, she was not afraid to voice her opinions or defend her views, yet she was open minded and held a deep respect for others. On top of this she was smart, to the point that she excelled in her education and earned scholarships from every post-secondary facility she applied to.  
Her father pressured his children into selecting the Galactic Military University, which offered the best military training. They all chose fields of study that would take up to twelve years to master. They all completed their studies by the age of twenty-four, eight years early. They were all over-achievers and competitive to a fault. None of them liked being left behind or allowed failure, they had to be the best of the best. Like their musical choices, the boys all chose different fields of study; Medicine, Physics and Galactic Mapping, Engineering, Architecture, Physics and Political Law.  
She couldn’t make up her mind so she chose a variety of courses that appeased her curiosity. She trained in multiple martial arts, had perfect aim and accuracy on the gun range and excelled in the field in every operative mission that she had ever been on. Her military instructors were satisfied with her skills, results, and her performance, but she had a hard time following orders, especially when she did not agree with them. They worried about her, as she seemed to run solely on instinct, allowing her most base emotions and needs run her life. This had gotten her into trouble several times, as she had a hard time staying within the protocol, and she often started intense debates and arguments. She had earned top ranking in all of her studies and had been selected for the Intergalactic Medical Research Program with the Company Rangers. In her other studies, she also received a doctorate in Health and Nutritional Sciences as well as in Behavioral Sciences with specialization in Music Therapy. On top of that she graduated with Honors in the Kinesiology program.  
Though the boys all entered into a different field, and each worked in a different department of the military, they all worked in the same military unit with the Ranchers Inter-Galactic Research Division. So their team was one of the most diverse and compatible of units. They differed greatly in personality, attitude, and ego, yet they were so in tuned to each other’s needs wants and desires that they could almost communicate without speech. This strange connection between them created an infallible bond which made it difficult for them to be separated for any length of time. All six of them were connected to each other by some sense or instinct. So when the call came for deep space exploration and population transplantation, it was no wonder that all of them chose the same mission, on the same planet. Their mission was to find a habitable planet and set it up for repopulation of the human race. There were over forty such teams, each one consisting of one hundred members in each planetary unit. The planet they chose was in the farthest reaches of the universe. The climate was harsh in the best of terms and yet because of the boys’ leadership and strength it was overall a successful mission that resulted in the planet being named after them.  
Her brothers were all well trained seasoned warriors, each one tall in stature, over six feet and all of them were lean and muscular. By all accounts, they were considered to be perfect male specimens of the human race. Each one would be considered handsome, They had strong facial features, with high cheekbones, strong jaw and a straight nose that was neither too long nor hooked. Their high brow spoke of above average intelligence, their thick dark hair told of overall health and wellness. Their bright silver gray eyes, framed with long dark lashes, shone with mischief and laughter. All six of them were considered to be ‘identical’ though the immediate family could easily recognize the differences between them. Whether it was a slightly different hairline, a mole or a birthmark, they each had a telltale mark that set them apart from the others.  
She was the oddball. She had never been considered ‘normal’ even by her own family. She had been the smallest of the septuplets, the fourth born, the middle child, the only girl and, of course, the smallest. Like her brothers, she was athletic, strong, healthy, and intelligent. Yet she did not share a single physical feature with her brothers. Where they were tall and broad of shoulder, she was short only 5’3”; her build was muscular yet she was small boned with a voluptuous womanly figure. Her face was oval, with a high brow and a slightly pointed chin, she had a pert button nose and full cupids bow lips which framed a beautiful white smile. Her bright silver blonde hair hung in thick waves down her to her lower back. Her most unique feature was her eyes. In the light of day they were so dark, they seemed to be black though they were truly a dark storm colored purple. At night was when they shone, literally bright silver like a cat in the darkness.  
Upon graduation, she turned down the position offered to her in the Rangers Medical Research Center. Instead she became a mixed martial arts fighter and began to enter tournaments in the hopes of becoming a professional, and joining the Pro Fight Circuit. Her father had been livid, he had never agreed with her choice of career, and she had overheard her parents arguing more and more often in the previous months. Usually about her, and the choices she was making. As far as he was concerned she should have gone with her brothers. She should never have turned down the Company Ranger’s job offer. Her mother had staunchly taken her side, she was a grown woman, it was her life, she needed to make her own choices, and she was bright and talented.  
He had effectively kicked her out of their family home and she was forced to get a full-time job as well as enter into her competitions. So she found a place of her own in Las Vegas and got a job as a dietitian and trainer at a local gym. Her education made her overqualified for the job and she had almost not gotten the job because of it. She had insisted on an interview and had told the Gym’s owner about her dreams of going pro. Instead of just offering her the job she had applied for the man had given her a spot on his fight roster so that he could get advertising for his Gym if she were successful. She had been more than happy to accept his terms. Unlike all of the other outsiders she had ever met, her boss, Dean, did not cause her discomfort to be around. To her he gave off the same vibe as her mother did. With his help and training in the ring, she was more successful than she ever could have imagined. She had not yet been defeated in the ring and was working her way towards a title match when everything fell apart for her.  
It was late at night after a significant qualifying match and her parents were waiting for her in their hover car in the parking lot of the arena. She was excited to tell them that she had officially made the circuit and would soon be on the professional fight schedule. She was in a hurry; her parents had already been waiting for over a half an hour, as it was she had stayed behind to shower and change. She had dressed in her usual red baby t-shirt and softened black jeans, and pulled on a pair of black hiking shoes. It had been chilly that day so on top she had worn her new Pro Circuit white soft-shell jacket. She packed her hand wraps and refillable water bottle into her backpack along with her gym-strip, towel, bath stuff, and make-up. She also carried a cross body purse that had her house keys, her wallet and ID, mini-music player and its solar recharger, facial tissues, lip balm and her cellular phone.  
She was approaching the hover car when she noticed something wrong; there was movement in the shadows surrounding the vehicle. She could see her parents inside the vehicle, they looked to be in a heated debate, she could hear their voices from where she was and yet she could not quite make out the words.  
Suddenly her mother slammed open the door and came around the car, she was walking quickly towards her, “Come, Rehtaeh, we need to get out of here. This way.”  
“Wait, Mom? What’s going on?” Rehtaeh stopped and looked back at the car and her father, who was opening the door and stepping out. He seemed angry, enraged. He was still wearing his military uniform, which was never a good sign.  
“Move now, we are under attack.” Her mother whispered urgently. Rehtaeh looked deeper into the shadows and saw men in uniforms waiting there, every instinct screamed at her to listen to her mother, and so she did. They ran into an alley and heard footsteps behind them.  
“Tranquilizers only!” She heard her father yell at the men, he was issuing orders to the soldiers. “We need her in perfect condition. Her genetics are the only ones that will work for the program.”  
“Keep moving Rehtaeh!” Her mother whispered at her, as they ran through the darkness. There were no lights in this alley, but that was not an issue for Rehtaeh, she had always been able to see perfectly in the darkness. They were about to pass a door, and Rehtaeh tried pulling her mom into it. Her instincts screamed at her to go into the shelter. Her Mom pulled back. “No, Rehtaeh, this way!”  
When they came out on the far side of the alley, they ran straight into an ambush. There were bright lights pointed at them and Rehtaeh groaned at the pain as her eyes struggled to adjust. They were surrounded by military men and women, fully armed their weapons directed at them. Her father’s car pulled up behind the soldiers, and their pursuers surrounded them from the back. Then her mother did something entirely atypical from what Rehtaeh would have ever expected her to do. She started to fight. She was on the attack, Rehtaeh had been trained to fight and yet she had never seen anyone fight as wildly as her mom. She joined in protecting her mother’s back.  
Her training enabled her to become lethal with only her hands and though she gave the mandatory verbal warning about her training, the soldiers laughed her off. She fought hard. She went feral, every instinct was about survival. Punch to the throat, elbow to the kidneys, knee to the groin, and heel hard into the instep. She gouged at their eyes and ears. Punched and kicked at anyone who approached, she had disarmed and knocked out three soldiers and killed four more before she was pinned to the ground with a gun to her temple, her hands behind her back.  
Her father walked up to them, both Rehtaeh and her mom, lying prone on the ground. They were lying close together and looking directly into each other’s eyes. He took out his handgun and knelt beside her mom. “I told you not to get attached. She is not even really human, just a bunch of mutations in an egg. Now your impulsiveness has lead to this. Goodbye, Rene.”  
He pressed the gun to her mom’s head and shot her in the temple. Rehtaeh watched in slow motion as the bullet entered her brain ricocheted against the pavement and back out of her and into her father’s eye. He fell on top of her mom’s body and she watched in horror as the light in his eyes faded away. By shooting his wife, he had, in essence, committed suicide. Rehtaeh started to scream, in terror, in pain, in shock. She was inconsolable.  
In one instance, she had gone from the glory of finding out she had reached her professional career goal, to being an orphan with murder charges against her. She was thrown into jail for manslaughter, assaulting military personnel, for treason, and conspiracy against the Alliance. She had acted purely in self-defense and there was no evidence that she had ever broken conspiracy or treason laws since she was not in any position to do so. That had not stopped them from finding her guilty though. What evidence they couldn’t find, they planted, they had her in a vice. She was enraged at her circumstances, but they had all the evidence pointing at her, and she had no way out.  
So there she was, barely twenty-five years old and sentenced to one hundred years in prison, never to see daylight again, unless she went for option number two. Cryo-stasis experimentation for the duration of her brother’s lives on their mission planet. For recompense, she would be paid one million per year, in the current valid currency in exchange, upon waking. Either way she would never see her brothers again. However, the second option allowed her to help her brothers survive on their hostile mission base, and when they passed on she would be rehabilitated and released into the public. She chose option number two; the least she could do was help her brothers. She would have done anything to keep some form of connection to her family.  
She was stripped naked and put in a cryogenic pod, and her body filled with odd chemicals meant to put her into a deep sleep and to freeze her body, keeping it from ever deteriorating or aging. Something went wrong from the beginning. She didn’t fall unconscious like they said she would. She was awake and aware of every horrifying moment of it. Her body froze, she was paralyzed, and she could not move could not make a sound. To make the situation worse, her eyes would not close. As many times as her doctors tried to close them for her, they would re-open of their own accord and she would watch the medical staff come and go. She did not sleep; her mind just would not allow itself to be shut off. She tried in so many ways to communicate with those around her, but they could not hear her and she could not move.  
They called her Voodoo, because of all the pins, needles and other things they injected into her body. They used her body for their experiments, pumping her full of various viruses just to try to find a cure. They would inject her with venoms and find the appropriate antivenin. Same with poisons, diseases and any other troubles that her brothers and their teams encountered on their planet, they would inject her with the toxin and then use her natural genetics to eliminate the problem. Because her body was frozen she could not relay the pain that they were causing inside of her. She screamed in pain and writhed in anger, burned with fever and she cried out from the sickness. Outwardly she seemed unaffected, everything she endured was all in her head. The doctors and scientist had no idea that she was under any duress. So many times she wished that she could just die and be done with everything and everyone. The side-effects of the experiments never became apparent, at least not until they finally woke her up and started taking her off of the cryo-stasis chemicals.  
Five hundred years later, she had undergone fifty-three research terms, each of which included countless experiments, she was finally being released.


	2. Rehtaeh

Rehteah  
Her brothers’ planet no longer needed her, she was being woken up. She was transported in an air ambulance to a spaceport and made ready for travel. She wore soft pajamas, they had dressed her in them upon taking her out of the Cryotube and placing her on a hospital bed. Then they covered her with a thin fuzzy blanket and rolled her away. She overheard a woman with fiery red hair tell her armed escort that someone had arranged for her to meet her rehabilitation officer in New-Mecca. He and the doctor in charge of her care were to make sure she reached her destination quietly. Because of her age, status, and newfound wealth there were many criminals that would take advantage of her for various nefarious reasons. The woman told the guard that she was the ailing daughter of an Alliance Dignitary, who was to be treated with the utmost respect and honor that was afforded to one in her position. The guard and the Doctor would only get paid once their charge made it safely to New Mecca.  
Mac, short for MacKenzie was her armed guard, who would ensure her protection at all times. He was a big man, with thick red hair and bright green eyes. He was a serious sort and took deep pride in his work, he was attentive and he was there to ensure her safety, whatever the personal cost. He pushed a large cart loaded with crates and boxes that were apparently her files and belongings, up the loading ramp and into the ship.   
She was placed under the care of a personal Doctor, who would help her with the detoxification of her body and the side-effects that were sure to be revealed. The Doc was one of the two Doctors that had been overseeing her “care” for the past six years. May Abrams was a gentle woman with dark hair and almond colored skin; she had wide-set brown eyes and a full contagious smile. The first and last Doc she would ever trust. Both the Guard and the Doctor were nice to her, but she was sure that it was only because they were being paid to be nice to her and ensure that she made it to her contact alive and well. At least they put up the front that they cared for her. It had been so long since she had had caring people around her.  
They provided her with a small cargo room near the front of the passenger bay of a ship, just below the main Cryobay. She was wheeled in after the initial boarding, just before takeoff so there would be few witnesses to her arrival. The private room had just enough space for her bed and another cot so they could take turns sleeping, she was never left unattended. There were two large crates that had her file number on them. Another box held enough rations to keep them alive through the journey and an assortment of medical supplies that the doctor might need while she was going through withdrawals and the toxin purge. The Captain and crew set the trajectory of the ship and went into cryogenic pods for the majority of the flight, the ship creaked and groaned around them as it hurdled through space. The only people not in cryo were Doc May, MacKenzie, and herself. Other than the three of them the ship was quiet. Always quiet. The gravity was turned off so everything was strapped down including her.   
The transfer to the ship had been so quick that her body still had not ‘unthawed’ from the old cryogenic process. So for the first week on board she was tortured by tingling limbs and the cramps that clenched her up so tight that she felt as though she were a human pretzel. Her flesh felt as though it was being burned off of her body before it grew back. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold in the pain, and even though her throat was raw due to centuries of disuse, she would keen, and groan in distress. The pain was slow to go away, and it was quickly replaced by the return of various strange illnesses. All of which she had already endured in a frozen state, but as her body began to eliminate the toxins she relived the horrible pain of each one. She had a tube through her nose that lead to her stomach so that she wouldn’t need to eat. There was an IV line attached to her arm to make sure that she stayed hydrated and they kept her strapped down since she was constantly writhing with seizures and pain.  
She would get violently ill one day and the next she was so strong she was tearing the straps that held her to the bed. Then she went deaf, she could hear nothing around her even though she could see the Doc and the Guard talking. Then a few hours later her hearing would return and suddenly she was able to hear the noise from the rest of the ship. Everything seemed so loud she screamed in pain as it shattered her nervous system with too much information. Finally, she forced herself to focus on only one sound, a steady heartbeat above her. She could hear the others around it, but that one was the strongest and steadiest. The heartbeat. From there she was able to analyze the other noises that she heard, focus on them and discard them as needed until finally she could tolerate the sounds. It was that heartbeat, that steady rhythm that carried her through the next challenges.   
The next day she went completely blind, she panicked telling the Doc and Mac that she was blind. They checked her eyes and recorded that her eyes had taken on a glassy sheen and her pupils were not adjusting to the light. Doc calmed her down and reminded her that there would be a change; according to the file the blindness would be temporary. When the cure came it was as horrifying as the blindness, she was inundated with too much light and visual matter. The brightness and clarity of everything would cause her to get sick again, again and again. Her neural receptors were on overload. She kept her eyes closed for long periods of time until finally her eyes began to readjust to the dim lighting in the room. Finally, her eyes returned to what she had always called normal; super sensitive to light, yet perfect vision even at night in complete darkness.   
Over and over she relived the illness that they had given her during the original studies as well as the horrible cure. The sixteen-week mark had just passed when she went into a full body seizure and dropped into a coma, this worried the Doc more than the illnesses had. At least when she had been awake, she had been fighting, now her body was close to shutting down.   
She was dreaming. Tubes filled with various fluids were wrapped around her body, squeezing her like a python or boa constrictor, they were squeezing the life out of her. She had a small knife in her hand, and she was hacking desperately at them until finally she was free. She began to run but her feet were glued to the ground. She couldn’t go any faster, and there were stones around her, grave stones, the names of her brothers, her mother, and father. The soldiers that she killed, those were there too. There were so many. No that couldn’t be right. She was not a killer; she had only acted in self-defense and had killed because they were trying to kill her.   
Shivering, shaking from the cold she woke. Still strapped to the bed, her breath coming in deep, harsh gasps, her lungs felt as though they were being crushed. Calming her breath, she started to drift in and out of consciousness.   
She was reclined in her cot, still half asleep when she heard Mac ask the Doc, “Have you ever seen anyone recover this quickly from so many issues? I mean, her records show that she underwent torture and really she should have died from all of this, but other than being in a coma she seems stronger than she was before.”  
“Her kidnappers really did a number on her. She is really lucky that she survived at all,” May replied, her voice was soft. This made no sense Dr. May had been one of her Doctors for the past six years. She knew who she was, where she came from and why she was being released. What the hell was this bullshit about kidnapping? “If I had not seen her recovery with my own eyes I would have sworn that it was impossible to come back from such severe damage. If she doesn’t come out of this coma, then we will lose her completely.”  
“She is strong May, she will survive,” Mac said he was close, near her bed but standing. She could feel his cold presence nearby. “The things that I have seen you accomplish with her, I admire that, you are an amazing Doctor to have helped her through this.”   
“Thanks, Mac, That really means a lot. I really want her to live, she is special to me, and I just can’t help it. To look at her you would think that she is just some spoiled rich man’s kid, but then you add in all that she has survived through. She would not have made it this far if she weren't a fighter.” May was sitting on her cot, holding her hand, her touch was gentle. Her voice contained a motherly note, a caring quality. “The sheer amount of chemicals they poured into her, it is unreal. It reminds me of the old Virus Control Subjects that they tried waking up a hundred years ago. Half of our textbooks are filled with the horrors that emerged when they tried reanimating the patients. Most of those patients had only half the number of chemicals in their systems, there was a zero percent survival rate.”  
“So you are saying she should have already died?” Mac asked, his voice sounded surprised.   
“After seeing the illnesses and the resulting side effects of the cures, she shouldn’t have survived the first week. This girl wants to live, Mac, and I want to see it happen,” May said, her voice filled with conviction.  
She was aware of the conversation, it made her feel uncomfortable to hear them talking about her, not because it made her feel like an outsider and not because they spoke as though she might still die. It was because they spoke with the genuine desire to help her, as though they actually cared that she survived. She squeezed Doc May’s hand lightly and tried to open her eyes, she wanted to tell them to stop talking about her. Her voice wouldn’t come out properly though, it was a raspy croak, it was painful. Doctor May shrieked in delight upon seeing her awake, she was so genuinely happy that the mood was contagious. She couldn’t help but smile in return.   
Once her vitals returned to a normal rhythm, she was unstrapped from the bed, and by week nineteen they took the final tubes out. She was finally able to eat on her own and to drink water, eventually lubricating her dry throat and mouth. The rations were a novelty for her; she had not tasted any food for so long that it was like starting all over as a child. Salt was too salty, sugar too sweet, tart foods pruned her face. It was a strange sensation to have food on her tongue and in her mouth. She bit her tongue several times trying to teach herself how to chew.  
She was able to brush her teeth and have a shower. Her first shower in centuries was an experience. Doc May had to help her get to the washroom, her legs were burning from non-use, and she was so weak. Then when she climbed into the stall and set the water, it went everywhere except where it was supposed to. The lack of gravity was making everything difficult; she had to catch the droplets to wash herself, which was fine for washing but rinsing off was impossible. Until Doc remembered the switch by the door that turned the gravity on in the bathroom, then everything changed.   
Her legs were so weak that she dropped to the floor feeling like she weighed a thousand pounds, the water slammed into her skin so hard that she cried out in pain. She was supersensitized to everything. She sat for a long moment on the floor of the shower, getting used to the feel of the water hitting her, running into her eyes and dripping off of her nose. Finally, she was able to stand back up and used the soaps and lotions that the Doc had provided for her and washed away the stench of illness that seemed to cling to her skin. When she stepped out, Doc May laughed at the face she was making and wrapped a thick towel around her and helped her dry off.   
“It’s good to feel clean again, Yes?” Doc May asked her as she helped her towel dry her hair. “We need to find you a brush for your hair. I will be right back.”   
When she looked in the mirror, she was sure that she would have changed, somehow, with all of the experimentation. She adjusted the light up slowly to what she figured was normal and blinked in the brightness, trying to force her eyes to adjust, so she could see if there had been any changes. But no, her hair was still silver blonde, it still hung in long waves to her lower back. Her eyes were still a deep, dark purple, only when she lowered the dim red light they seemed to be a little shinier, but really it could just be the lighting and not her eyes. Her face was still the same, her body a little thinner due to being ill for so long, but she was still muscular, her breasts had not shrunk or grown, she was not any taller. Still it was strange to see herself again. She couldn’t help but stare. She looked a lot like her mother. Her mother had been a beautiful woman. When Doc May came back, she helped her brush and braid her hair so that it wouldn’t get tangled.   
The following week she was finally able to get up and walk around on her own. MacKenzie helped her for the first few steps until she got the hang of it again; she quickly recovered her balance and equilibrium, and finally she regained her grace. She helped May and MacKenzie clean up the room and dispose of the used medical supplies in the incinerator. They argued with her, but she refused to listen, she whispered that she wanted to help and just continued to help them clean up ignoring their protests. There was really nothing left of the medical supplies, she had used everything having been sick for so long. It took a day or so to get rid of the cloying medicinal smell that had been ingrained into the room.  
Doc gave her a Chronos so that she could keep track of the time and to try to create a proper sleep schedule. She also handed her a sealed envelope and told her that she was to keep it on her and keep it safe at all times. The Doctor May and MacKenzie had each been assigned a Cryo pod for the trip for once they deemed it safe to engage it. Whoever had booked the ship had been smart enough to realize that Rehtaeh would not need nor want one. It was that week that her guard and the Doctor finally decided that it was safe for them to go into cryo and she was free to roam the ship and discover the new world that she was in.   
She waited for Doc and Mac to go into cryo before she opened the package. It was a kind of tablet computer. Being awake in cryo, she had watched doctors and scientists using this same type of tech for several months, so it didn’t take her long to maneuver through the processing and functions. The first thing that opened was a personal message for her. It was the fiery redhead that she had seen when she had been released.   
“Rehtaeh, I am General Tiller. If you are reading this, it means that you have survived the detoxification process, congratulations. The next weeks and months are going to be the most difficult of your life. Legally you are free and clear to live your life. In this dossier, there is included all of the documentation for your release. As part of your release you clear the Alliance and Company Forces of any wrong doing and you will not attempt any form of retribution for any actions taken against you during your time of entombment. As long as you follow this protocol you have been granted immunity from criminal charges for the remainder of your life, due to time already served. If you are arrested, your DNA sample will clear you immediately of any sentencing.”   
“You will be required to attend rehabilitation sessions upon your arrival in New Mecca to ascertain your personal abilities and to reestablish you in the community. It is also part of the cover story that has been provided for you. Please review the file and memorize your new history. You will maintain your military status in case that is a field that you are interested in pursuing. All of the other achievements, degrees and diplomas that you earned during your education are also current and in good standing. As agreed upon prior to your conviction and sentence, your money has been deposited in the company account of Ennaline Holdings Ltd. There is a UD card with the company name on it. Your name is the only name on the account. You have been provided with an estate as per your request paid for from your recompense. It is located in the Highland River area of New Mecca, as you requested it has a fully operational security system. It has already been programmed with your DNA data. The coordinates are included in the dossier.”  
There was a second message directly following the first. It was the same woman, but she seemed more relaxed, open, almost friendly. She was not in military uniform. Instead, she wore a hunter green blouse which accentuated the fiery red of her hair.  
“Rehtaeh, this is a personal message, I want to offer you my personal assistance in any matter that you may have going forward. I am Farah Tiller. I apologize on behalf of the Alliance for any suffering you may have endured. I will be sending you messages to this device on a regular basis. Please turn off the tracking device that is located in both the setting and in the options development section. It will keep you location safe from those who may want to harm you or may be looking for you.” She waited for a beat, the smooth area between her brows creased for a moment while she was thinking.   
“I am not supposed to tell you this, but it is your right to know why your sentence was extended by for hundred years. Your case has been highly contested due to your biological significance to the medical community. It seems your genetic code is perfect for all sorts of medical studies. The Rangers Medical Research Center has successfully stalled your awakening four times in the past and is trying to have your awakening deterred infinitely.” Rehtaeh growled at this, those bastards had already taken everything from her, and yet they wanted more.   
The woman went on, “Because of this my senior managers have instructed me to have you awakened as quickly and as silently as possible. The corrections department wants you off of their books, you are a legal minefield, considering you have been in the system for five times longer than your sentence states. The sooner we can get you reestablished in your new life the quicker these hounds will leave you alone. If there is an emergency of any kind, I will use the code word Voodoo. The protocol instructions will be included in a code type of format. Rehtaeh, you can trust May Abrams, she is the only person who knows your true story, as well as the cover story. She will do everything she can to get you here. If by chance something happens to her or MacKenzie, find someone you trust to get you here. The Auto-UD cards are transferable, so be very careful who you trust, and don’t lose them. I look forward to meeting you soon. Delete this message for your protection as well as mine.”  
She turned off the tracking on the computer at any place that she could find a feed for location tracking and deleted the message. Once she was done that she looked through the rest of the computer. For such a tiny device, it was a very quick and versatile machine. It held all of her medical files, including any pictures taken all in electronic form. Her new cover story was provided and there were electronic copies of all of her diplomas, degrees, certifications, permits, and licenses. Along with the computer, the envelope enclosed a new ID card, and papers for travel and a UD card that had her business name engraved on it. There were two more cards with the Alliance Logo stamped on it as well as the words, ‘Universal Denomination Auto Transfer Card’. The instructions told her that she was to give the cards as payment to her escorts, upon her safe arrival in New Mecca. They were fully transferable, no names, no tracers. The Alliance was releasing her, but they wanted her silence, if she talked to anyone, disclosed who she really was she was a detriment. They didn’t care how she got to New Mecca or who got her there, they just wanted her where they could see her and keep an eye on her. She was okay with this, all she wanted was to survive and restart this mess of her life, and she could do that just about anywhere.   
The cover story was a nice touch. It was the story that Doc had told to Mac. The story had been leaked to the press, and all of her records, from birth to medical to her prison records had been changed to reflect it. It completely played off the truth, it was her story with just the most minor changes; the willful child of Dignitaries of the Alliance, recently hospitalized for chemical poisoning, after a kidnapping gone wrong. Both of her parents had been killed during the transfer of ransom, and she had been found in a Cryo warehouse jacked up on a multitude of chemicals. Her seven brothers had been killed in a military ship crash the year before. She was traveling to New Mecca to start over and to hopefully heal from the trauma of her past. They even gave her a current formal military training history. All of this while still being able to use her real name.   
There was just enough truth to ensure that it was believable, and that way the alliance would be assured that she stayed out of trouble. She and May were the only people in the world, no, the universe who knew the complete truth. She and the Alliance Members who had thought it best to cut her loose.


	3. Rehtaeh

Rehtaeh  
She was making her way through the ship. Just down the corridor from her metal box was a small bay of cryo pods, the Doctor, and the guard were there looking peaceful as they slept, as well as a couple crew members. She floated through the ship touring every room, every area. It was tube-like in general structure with two levels, and four distinct zones, each of which could be purged in case of an emergency. At the very rear of the ship was the main engine room and propulsion bay, where the massive ballasts were. In front of that there was a distinct cargo area, which could be separated from the passenger bay. There was a vast assortment of trade goods that were expected in different ports across the galaxy. Crates filled the hold from floor to ceiling everything was strapped down tight so that the goods wouldn’t shift while there was no gravity. Then there was the passenger bay where her room and the hallways of cryo pods were. In the prow, the very front was the main ship; it held the flight deck, the control rooms, and its various cabins.   
Five hundred years was bound to change a lot, and she was curious about the world around her. So far, other than the odd thing here or there, not much had changed. It seemed to her that as much as humans evolved, they stayed the same. She was maneuvering along the upper passenger corridor looking at the people in the Cryo pods, matching the scents and sounds she had heard to their faces and bodies. These Cryo pods were very different from the one that she had been in for the past five hundred years. These ones though they held their occupant in a deep sleep, there was still the ability to breathe, to move and to rest. The one thing they all had in common, they looked peaceful and at rest. She analyzed each one as she went, trying to get an idea of who they were, what they might do or whether they were friend or foe.   
There were all sorts of travelers, people from all walks of life. Some were the transient worker types and there was one man who looked like he was from higher society traveling the back roads to save a few bucks. The majority looked like Merchant types, people who were transporting their goods from one place to another. A couple of businessmen beside a woman in a similar black suite as her cohorts’. There was even a family mother, father, daughter, traveling together. She imagined that they were on their way to start a new life on another planet. She could tell who was traveling together because of their docket numbers flashing on the glass panel of their cryo pods. People traveling together had numbers in sequence. She stopped in front of a teen, there was no information on the pod. No docket number. The kid wore clothes that could suit both genders, hair cropped fairly short, and a cap to further mask his or her identity. She figured her for a girl, she could be wrong, but all of her instincts were screaming that the kid was a girl. Regardless the kid was a runaway for sure.  
She moved on to a dark skinned man who wore the robes of the Muslims or Islamic people of her time. She briefly wondered what religions there were in these new days. She was more spiritual than religious in any way, but she respected those of other faiths. To each their own. Beside him there were three boys aged approximately 12 to 17; they also wore robes like the man beside them. They all looked similar and shared enough traits that they could be related. She saw a couple, who had weathered skin; they looked like they worked in the sun like landscapers or construction workers. They smelled of sweat and dirt and hard work. Their individual scents were so interconnected she assumed that they were a married couple.   
She was working her way to the strong steady heartbeat that had helped her focus enough to carry on and get healthy. She was over her cabin now, near the front, when she saw two men across the aisle from each other. One had a medical smell to him the other one had the steady heartbeat. She looked at the other first; saving her savior for last. He was handsome enough, tall, curly blonde hair; he was in good shape and, all in all, seemed hale enough. She didn’t pick up on any injuries that would require medication though, and the scent of him was almost overwhelming. She backed away from his pod with a frown on her face. Was it possible he was some sort of addict? Another question about the society these days, what kind of drugs were available that she would have to learn to steer away from? She understood the basic machinations of an addict so she would need to watch out for his erratic behavior if she had any need to deal with him in the future. He wore a blue jacket with the name Johns on the chest, well at least she knew one person’s name.   
Finally, it was time to look at the person with the steady heartbeat. She turned toward him, closing her eyes and bowed her head in trepidation. When she finally opened her eyes, she was looking at his feet, heavy boots, like those worn by duty officers or military men. Black pants covered well-muscled legs and he wore a black sleeveless shirt. His head was shaved, but she could see little of his face. She was dismayed. The man was chained to the back of the chamber, blindfolded, with a bit in his mouth. She was tempted to release him; her hand shook as she looked up at him. What was wrong with her? He was obviously a convict of some sort or he wouldn’t be all tied up. The problem she was having was that the only enforcement type person she had seen other than Mac was the medicated man. It just seemed off, and her instincts screamed at her that if she had to choose between the two, she would choose the convict. She whimpered softly raising her hand to the front of the chamber directly in front of where his heart was.   
He growled, low and deep, from behind the bit. He was awake. In a cryogenic pod and awake and moving, he was like her. She looked up at him again and cocked her head to the side. Then she spoke to him, her voice was low and raspy, it barely came out as a whisper. “Hmm. You are like me. Awake during cryo. Very curious.”  
Across the front of his pod were the same words that she had seen for centuries on the glass of her own cryo pod. Different perspective, same meaning. ‘Lockout Protocol. No Early Release.’ She moved her hand and traced the words and sighed. She stood there looking at the words on his chamber door, her eyes unfocused as she remembered her life. She had spent forever in a glass tube, with needles and tubes poking into every plausible vein or artery. She spoke again, more for the practice, and for her own company than anything. “I had hoped to never see those words again, and yet here they are, in living color. They give every convict a nickname you know? Mine was Voodoo, ‘cause of all the needles. Maybe someday you can tell me yours.”  
He growled again and moved his head forward, nostrils flaring out as he tried to get a sense of her. She just looked up at him and watched for a long moment. She knew she was probably bothering him, but she was chagrinned to go back to her steel box below his. She wondered if he had heard her screams, and everything that had gone on for the past twenty weeks. “I apologize for keeping you awake, and for the noise. I, um, I just wanted to thank you. You kept me alive for the last few weeks. Crazy right?”  
He lifted his head, and it jerked in surprise at her words, she chuckled softly and walked away. “Thanks again, have a good night.”  
She walked back around to the steep steel staircase that would take her below and turned away from the row of empty cryo pods on her level. She looked around her little room again; it was mostly empty other than her cargo boxes and the hospital cots. She almost cried as the realization hit her suddenly. She was basically still in prison. She had exchanged a glass box, for a slightly larger metal one, but at least she was afforded movement and rest. She sat on the edge of her cot looking around at her cell, it could be worse, she could still be frozen. She decided that she was tired, actually physically tired so she curled up on the cot, pulled her blanket over her shoulders and closed her eyes and slept.   
She woke to a nightmare, one of the recurring ones she had been having since she had been a child. She shook it off and started to look through her crates. All of her belongings, everything that had been personally hers were inside. At least the stuff she had moved to her studio apartment in Las Vegas, tournament trophies and medals, all sorts of useless things. She would gladly have given everything up just to have one more moment with her family. It took her several days to sort through it all, making trip after trip to the incinerator, destroying what was left of her past. Her journal was in there, the one that held her most private thoughts and dreams, the secrets about the boy she had a crush on, and the ideas that would pop into her head at three in the morning. It was all irrelevant now, she was not the same person, and there was nothing in the journal that could help her now. It was nothing more than painful memories and dreams best forgotten. Her sketchbooks and pencils, her travel easel, and an unfinished painting started eons ago. There was nothing in them that belonged to her brothers or her parents, nor the things that she had kept at her parents place. She wondered if her parents’ belongings had been sent to her brothers or if every trace of her family had been destroyed. She wondered if her brothers had kept anything that had reminded them of her. She kept the sketchbooks and pencils but put the rest back into the box to be incinerated.  
Then she found the picture, it was in her favorite book Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The last family picture that they had taken, at their secondary school graduation, she was in the middle with her mom and dad, her brothers tall and proud were huddled in around them. She traced their faces, remembering, and mourning. She looked at her father and wondered yet again when he had become a monster, a traitor. It wasn’t like she hadn’t already dealt with the issues she had had with the man. Hell, he was dead, which meant that all she could do was forgive him and move on. No one was left in her family. She was the last one. She was alone. She wondered if her brothers had had children, families, she wondered if she could locate her relations. Still she cried silently for hours, she didn’t want to share her grief with anyone, not even the man in his cryo chamber upstairs. It was no one’s concern, but her own. She placed the picture into its place of honor, back in the heart of the book, and put the book into the pile with her art supplies.   
She found a box with her sunglasses collection. She had always had sensitive eyes, she preferred the dark to the light, so from her early teens she had started collecting sunglasses. There were over twenty pairs in the box, some of them broken, some she found she wasn’t fond of, so she pulled out her two favorites and put them in her keeps pile. They were both cycling or sports glasses, meant to wrap around your face with little space, offering full light protection without actually being constricting. One had a dark gray tint; the other had a full black hue, meant for days in the hot sun. Never knew when you might need a nice pair of blackout sunglasses. She tossed the remainder in the trash box and moved to the next item.   
Her jewelry box. It was a three-inch square black lacquered wooden box, red velvet lined the inside. She already knew what was in it. She didn’t wear jewelry, preferred leather cuffs and collars to necklaces and gems. There were only two items in the little box, the first was her grandmother’s wedding rings, that her mom had given her when she turned eighteen. The second was the gold charm bracelet; there were eight charms, one from each member of her family. Her father had given the mini dog tags, her mom the bow and arrow. Robbie’s charm was the gun, Mikey had given her the knife charm. Juno’s was the drum, Moe’s dice were a hint to the games they played. Bruce’s was the tiny palette, Jacob gave her the heart. She looked at it for an hour, fingering each one, examining it and remembering. Finally, she put it back in the little wooden box and sealed the lid. She set it on top of her keep pile.  
When her tears stopped, she made a neat little pile of the things she intended to keep and tucked it all into a corner of the small room. Then she took the rest of the discarded items to the incinerator. She spent a long time there dropping one item at a time into the bin, listening to the crackle of the flames as her trinkets were destroyed. She lingered for a couple of hours, not wanting to go back to her room to face more of her history, more of her past. When everything in the box was gone, she toured the ship once again, finally making her way past the passengers on the floor above her. She didn’t pause at the convict’s cell this time; she just placed her hand over his heart beat as she passed, concentrating on the steady rhythm and allowing it to center her.  
When she returned to her steel cage, she nibbled on one of her rations, and then climbed back into her bed and let her dreams carry her away. She dreamed of her brothers, making their lives on their new planet, feeling their grief when they heard of her parents murder. Somehow they knew she was helping them. They all seemed revered every time a new vaccine would come from the alliance, they would look at the vials of vaccines made from her DNA for a long time before passing them out to their teams. She dreamed that they had attended her funeral, and in tandem she watched as each one touched her face, with grief and rage. She was sure that they had come to hate her, hell she had been convicted of the murder of their parents. The pain she saw on their faces snagged her heart and she sobbed. She had never wanted to hurt them, her only intention was of love and had wanted them to be proud of her. Her ghost approached each of them and placed her hand on each of their hearts and told them she loved them, she said she was sorry for failing them and their parents.   
The dream changed and she was one of a massive crowd running away from men in black leather armor, with blasters and weapons and huge city like ships. The black flags with the blood red roses were being torn down by the enemy, the mood was one of terror. The people around her did one of two things; they either chose to join the monsters, becoming evil black beasts chasing down the ones who ran. Or they died. They grabbed her and she fought like a mad woman, she fought for her freedom until a man with a wicked curved knife came after her, he held the bright serrated blade at her throat.   
“Who are you!” he yelled at her.   
“I am the sister time forgot, the heart of seven. I am red on black.” She replied softly, gently. The man screamed and pushed his blade through her throat, her bright red blood splattered the man’s face covering his black clothing in red gore. Even in death she whispered, “I am red on black.”  
She woke suddenly gasping for breath. What the hell kind of messed up dream was that? She spent countless hours lying in her bed alone thinking. Always alone. It seemed to be her destiny to be alone. When she finally got up, she looked at the last remaining crate, wondering what horrors were hiding within. It took the better part of the hour to psych herself up enough to open it up. It was a sealed container, a container meant to preserve items for long periods of time, what could possibly be in this container that would have any meaning for her?  
It was filled with the clothes she had taken to Nevada for training and her career. Her jeans; every pair was black, her baby tees, and fitted sweaters in different shades of red or black. Hooded zipped sweaters in blacks, reds, or grays. All of her good clothes were kept at her parents place since there was nowhere she planned to go while she was in training. She was a girl with simple tastes, but there was one secret luxury that she loved and that was sexy underwear; socks, underwear and bras, all black; made of the softest silks and lace. No one would likely ever see her in her undergarments, but she loved the feel of them on her skin, and she felt beautiful in them. She kept only the undergarments that were in the best repair. Anything with snags, rips or holes were tossed.   
She stripped out of her hospital pajamas and slipped into her own clothes. It was like coming home. The gently worn jeans clung to her muscular frame, she liked the material snug but stretchy so that she could move with ease. The smell of her mother clung to her blood red jersey t-shirt from the last hug she had received, a wood burning fire on a gray band Merch collectible sweater from her last camping trip with her dad. It had been a present from her parents. A sweater from one of her favorite bands from the early twenty-first century, My Chemical Romance. She loved their music she had every one of their albums on her music player. Mud caked into the crevices of her black duty boots that she had worn on the last training day that she had spent with her brothers before they headed off into the galaxy.   
She took out all of the clothes, sorting through everything, there were several items that she had long outgrown or were in such a state of disrepair they were little more than rags. These she tossed into a pile for disposal. There was some gym strip that she could use so she folded that back up neatly and set it aside. Same with her favorite flannel pajamas. The hospital scrubs she had been wearing went into the disposal pile. She ended up keeping only her most favorite items, the ones that fit her the best and flattered her body. When she was done all she kept were two pairs of jeans, a couple of plain tank tops one red one black, a sheer red blouse that she could layer over top. Along with a black loose-knit batwing shirt that she could layer, another red jersey tee and a red merino wool sweater that hugged her curves beautifully. Any clothes that were in decent shape, she set into a pile for giving away to a thrift shop. She paused for a long moment and wondered if there was still such a thing. The clothes that she decided to keep she folded and put them with her art supplies.  
Then at the bottom of the crate she found a plastic evidence bag, and her backpack, the one that she had had that fateful night. She didn’t even look at the evidence bag, it went into the box for the incinerator, there was nothing in there she wanted to keep. Not even her white soft shell jacket. The last time she had seen it was during her trial, splattered with the blood of the soldiers she had killed. She emptied the pack completely watching her life fall onto the floor. Her purse was inside the pack so she set it aside for later. She spied her hand wraps and clutched them to her chest and remembered the lost opportunity to enter into professional sports. Her towel smelled musty and the bath supplies had all turned bad and needed to be incinerated, same with the make-up and lip balm that she had found in her purse. Her reusable plastic bottle was cracked in several places. She kept only her hand wraps, everything else went into the discard pile. She filled the large pack with her art supplies, clothes and filled the pockets with the odds and ends that she had decided to keep. Everything fit in the pack there was even a little extra room to put her purse back in.   
She opened the purse and saw her wallet and ID, along with her music player and the solar charger, which had somehow survived the fight. The facial tissues basically disintegrated in her hands falling in a flakey mess on the floor. She cleaned the rubble out of her purse and that was when her eyes fell on her house key on her black metal dice keychain.   
She looked at it for a long moment thinking, “What the fuck would I do with a house key for a place that hasn’t existed for a half a millennium?”  
Flashbacks of her home, filled with family and laughter and debates and love filled her mind. There was no way to go back to that, home, what a concept; it was something that she would never have again. She screamed and threw it across the room it; made a loud “tink” against the metal wall, before it clattered loudly to the floor.   
She raged and punched the wall several times, yelling, “Fuck! It’s not like I can ever go home. Damn it!”  
There was a dent in the wall, her knuckles were bloody, and her blood smeared on the metal. Her heart was pounding fiercely in her chest, and tears streamed down her face. She broke down again, but this time she gave in to the rage that had gathered within her and she howled her hurt. Screamed in her rage, and threw the empty crate out of her little metal box and into the narrow corridor, smashing it into one of the support beams outside. Her temper tantrum lasted several minutes as she flipped her bed and threw it against the wall. Finally, she grabbed her thin fuzzy blanket and she cried until she passed out, her eyes puffy from the salty tears, her chest tight and stiff from the wracking breaths she had taken.   
The next time she woke, she was humbled and dismayed at her behavior. She really didn’t understand the animalistic rage that had taken over. She had been murderous mad. It was unacceptable, she needed to learn to control those impulses. Looking around the little room she shook her head. She must have made quite the racket. She would have to apologize again to the guy upstairs for her rude noise. That was a one-sided conversation that she really was not interested in having. Shaking her head at herself, she headed to the washroom and cleaned herself up, had a shower and changed her clothes. Finally, she gathered her courage and climbed the stairs. She took the short route this time stopping right in front of him and looking up at him.   
He was clenching his bit in his teeth, his head tilted back a bit as though he were trying to see under the blindfold. She dropped her head in shame. He must think she was a complete nut job. He wouldn’t be wrong, she was not exactly stable at this time in her life. She wasn’t sure he was even interested in company, but she figured he deserved at least a small explanation.   
“I am back to apologize again, as you can probably tell, I seem to be having an issue with rage.” She started softly. She raised her eyes to him in time to see him incline his head in answer. She took it as a cue to continue. She started rambling, just venting the garbage that had accumulated in her mind, “I have been in an ice bucket for five hundred years. So I am dealing with a few things that I couldn’t exactly work out while frozen. You know what it is like though, to be awake on the inside, watching the world pass you by? You at least can move a bit. I was paralyzed. Old cryotech, the Doc says that the tech has changed, but I just can’t seem to force myself to go back into one of these boxes. I don’t trust it. Anyhow, I just wanted to tell you that it won’t happen again. I am pretty sure that I have worked it out of my system.”  
“Three days have passed since the Doc and Mac went into Cryo and I just seem to be falling apart. There is just so much rage I can’t seem to contain it, and there is no one here that I can spar with to get it out of my system. I miss that the most you know? It used to be so easy to find someone to spar with when everything got too much. They are all gone now. Dead and gone.” She placed her hand in front of his heart, her index finger tapped along to the steady beat of it. Her bloodied knuckles were already starting to heal, but his nostrils flared as though he could smell the scent of her blood through the glass. It didn’t help that her period had started that day upon waking up. The cramps were incredible. She had forgotten exactly how much she had not missed that. She turned away from his pod and whispered, “Thanks for, um, listening to my bullshit, and putting up with my screaming. Have a good night.”  
When she got back to her room, she looked at the mess. She was chagrined as she righted her bed, cleaned up her mess and put her discarded clothing into the empty crate and moved it into the cargo bay for someone else. She picked up the odds and ends that she did not want, like the keys and the spoiled bath products and took them to the incinerator for disposal. She was there looking into the flames and the keys were the last item in the box, she was staring at them, trying to drop them into the fire, to be rid of them. Something held her back, some instinct, some need within her. She put them into her pocket, shoved the empty box into the disposal and slammed the door. Then she walked away.   
Finally back in her almost empty room, she packed the few clothes that she had kept in her backpack, turned on her music player and picked up her sketchbook and pencils. She threw herself into drawing after drawing of her memories and her dreams and the demons that lived inside her mind. Through the music and the art, she forced herself into a catharsis state and purged all of her emotions. She lost track of time, and just let herself drift, allowing the music to move her and the lines on the paper to soothe her soul. Finally at peace with herself, she put it all away. Packing everything into her backpack, in wait for a new life.   
Ten days had passed since her big emotional eruption. She had just woken up and gotten dressed in her red Jersey tee, her black skinny jeans, and her heavy boots. She had pulled on her sweater and was just about to pull out a ration bar when she heard popping sounds and then there were flashing lights and alarms. The gravity kicked in and she suddenly felt so heavy, it took her a long moment to get her bearings and stand up. Her stomach dropped to the pit of her stomach. It was just her luck. Right when she was standing on the precipice of her new hopes and dreams, fate took her cards and threw them in the wind and her life once again went to hell in a hand basket.


	4. Riddick

Riddick  
“They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I am still awake…” He thought restlessly as he allowed his senses to once again reach out into the ship. The trip had overall been interesting. He had picked up several things right from the start of the trip. “Transporting me with civilians, Sounded like 40, 40 plus.”  
“Heard an Arab voice, some hoodoo holy man, probably on his way to New Mecca. But what route. What Route?” He knew the straight lines well enough, but this was a trade route, primarily off-roading when you really thought about it.   
“Smelled a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather. Prospector type. Free settlers. And they only take the back roads.” He could sense her down the way a bit along with her husband, they smell like each other.   
“And here is my real problem. Mr. Johns, the blue eyed devil. Plannin’ on takin’ me back to slam, only this time he picked a ghost lane.” He could tie him down, put him in a bit and blindfold, but it was only a matter of time before he came up with a plan and he got out. Johns knew it. “Long time between stops. Long time for something to go wrong.”   
The growling and moaning started about a week into the trip. The beeping and smell of a med unit came up from below. He knew there were people down there, he had overheard the Captain and the Doctor talking briefly about the Dignitary’s daughter. She was the kidnapping victim that had been all over the news. Seems she was not doing so well. It wasn’t long before the screaming started. Sounded painful. On and off the girl would scream and then there would be long periods of silence, he could hear her heavy panting breaths as she struggled with her illness. He wondered what it was they were doing to the poor girl, shouldn’t they give her something for the pain?   
He could hear everything going on below, and in the usual protocol the Doctor gave a running commentary on all of the procedures she had to do and why. He got a hell of a lot of information, just by listening to her work. When they had first boarded, the patient had stank like a chemical concoction, a ticking time bomb of chemicals. Was she a hype like Johns? She didn’t smell like Morphine. Her scent had been more of a mix of various hospital smells, hell it smelled as though she had swallowed the entire pharmacy.   
It was no wonder. According to the Doctor, there were record logs found in the warehouse locker where the girl was kept in Cryo. The records indicated that there had been at least fifty-three different experiments completed, countless other tests had been done, and chemical after chemical had been pumped into her paralyzed body. With no way to rid her body of the toxins, they had sat inside her frozen body waiting for the day she was released. It was taking this long just to purge the toxins from her body. No wonder the girl was screaming. Sixteen weeks of noise and commotion until finally it stopped, then the poor Doc had a new problem, the girl had dropped into a coma. There was problem after problem with that girl. The Doctor definitely had her hands full with that one.  
It was twenty weeks before the girl was up and walking around. She stayed below until the Doc and the Guard checked themselves into cryo. It was then that he got her first visit. He could hear her poking around, exploring the ship. She had started below decks, making her way to the very rear of the ship and then working her way up the main level. She smelled completely different than she had when she first arrived on the ship, the chemical smell was long gone, and she smelled clean. There was a spicy scent to her as well, like cinnamon or cloves. Not sweet and cloying, more like spiced cider. Sweet and tart at the same time.   
“Hmmm, interesting.” He thought as she approached.  
She had stopped just outside of his cryo unit. He could tell that she was looking at him. She didn’t smell of fear, but then he did look as though he were securely contained within his little chamber. Funny what contraptions like a blindfold, bits, and skinny chains could do for the supposed security of the common people. He growled at her and still she had shown no signs of fear. In fact, she had placed her hand on the glass right in front of his chest. He took a deep breath trying to catch a better whiff of her scent, and then she spoke catching him off guard. Her voice was soft and husky, a voice that was raspy from not using it for a long time.   
It was the first time he had heard her speak to anyone, “Hmm. You are like me. Awake during cryo. Very curious.”  
Awake during cryo. Had she just told him that she had spent all of her time watching her captors experiment on her while waiting for the ransom drop? Fuck that was brutal. He heard her hand move down the glass and traced the words lit up from the outside of his pod. She said nothing for a long time, like she was studying the words on the glass, couldn’t she read? She spoke again, the raspy quality had changed some. It had become more husky and intimate like she was sharing a dark secret, “I had hoped to never see those words again, and yet here they are, in living color. They give every convict a nickname you know? Mine was Voodoo, ‘cause of all the needles. Maybe someday you can tell me yours.”  
Wait. What? She was a con? That was not the word on the street. Every news log he had read for the past six months had been about the missing kidnap victim, the murder of her parents and then her courageous survival story. He growled again and moved his head forward, he took a deep breath, apple cider or apple pie, sweet and spicy and tart. He could eat her up. Like the Big Bad or the Big Evil that everyone called him. “I apologize for keeping you awake and for the noise. I, um, I just wanted to thank you. You kept me alive for the last few weeks. Crazy right?”  
He lifted his head, in surprise at her words. What the hell? She chuckled softly and walked away. “Thanks again, have a good night.”  
Well, that was a little twist. It definitely made this journey a little more interesting. She came by a few more times. She didn’t say anything just passed her hand over the door of the capsule in front of his chest as she passed by on her way to the disposal unit. It was the second day after she had visited that she went on her tirade. He could hear her screaming below about going home. He heard something metallic ping off of the wall, then she went ballistic, pounding on the wall, throwing shit around. The whole nine yards. She was having a complete conniption fit. Until she finally collapsed in a crying fit. He usually was not the type to be sympathetic to the emotional, weepy chicks. But to be locked up for five months, be completely brutalized, and to find out your entire family was dead would make the sanest people go out of their mind as well. Considering how much he liked his freedom, he could definitely relate.  
The following morning he heard her get up shower and change. She lingered below for a long time before she finally climbed the stairs, she was quiet, her feet barely making any noise on the steps or on the grated floor as she approached. She stopped and stood still as a statue in front of him for several long moments before she spoke. Her voice was filled with guilt and a touch of sorrow. “I am back to apologize again, as you can probably tell, I seem to be having an issue with rage.”   
He almost could not believe it. She was concerned that she had disturbed him. She was worried that she had annoyed him. He nodded once to indicate that he had heard her and acknowledged her apology. Then her husky voice continued in the darkness, “I have been in an ice bucket for five hundred years, so I am dealing with a few things that I couldn’t exactly work out while frozen. You know what it is like though, to be awake on the inside, watching the world pass you by? You at least can move a bit, I was paralyzed. Old cryotech, the Doc says that the tech has changed, but I just can’t seem to force myself to go back into one of these boxes. I don’t trust it. Anyhow, I just wanted to tell you that it won’t happen again. I am pretty sure that I have worked it out of my system.”  
What the Fuck? This woman must be completely out of her mind, The Doc had told the Captain that the girl had been under the kidnappers control for five months, not half a millennium. So who was lying? Even if she was telling him the truth, since when did he seem like the trustworthy secret keeper type? Or maybe it was because he was the sole person on this tin can that could even listen to a word she said. Five hundred years of not being able to communicate must have knocked some of her screws loose, for her to even consider him as her confidante. “Three days have passed since the Doc went into Cryo and I just seem to be falling apart. There is just so much rage I can’t seem to contain it, and there is no one here that I can spar with to get it out of my system. I miss that the most you know? It used to be so easy to find someone to spar with when everything got too much. They are all gone now. Dead and gone.”   
He heard her place her hand in front of his chest, and as she tapped her index finger along to the steady beat of his heart he realized suddenly why she kept putting her hand on the glass. She could hear his heart beat. She had thanked him for keeping her alive for weeks on end. It had been his heartbeat? What the hell? Her scent had changed again, she smelled of blood. She must have messed up her hand during her violent outbreak because the smell was strongest right in front of him, but he could smell her menses as well. That explained the erratic emotional distress. PMS must be a bitch after half a millennium. She turned away from his pod and whispered, “Thanks for, um, listening to my bullshit, and putting up with my screaming. Have a good night.”  
She was gone again. The next day she changed up her routine. She spent her mornings below decks, he could hear her moving around, and it sounded like she was working out. She must be shadow boxing. She had said that she missed sparring. He wondered if she had any skill. Then she would come up and sit in the middle of the passenger bay and make scratching noises on something. It took him a few beats to figure out that she was drawing, or sketching on a paper pad. It was an old art form. Yes, she was definitely in for some adjustments when she got to her destination. There was a lot that had changed in the past five hundred years, and so far all she had seen was the inside of one old ship.   
When he heard the firecrackers go off, he thought that she was having another rage fit. But no, he heard her below him in her little solitary unit; she was as surprised as he was. And then all hell broke loose. Alarms blaring, lights flashing, he could see the flicker under the edges of his blindfold.  
He could hear a couple of crew members opening their pods and waking up, there was confusion and yelling as they tried to land the ship. He could hear the voodoo girl below decks trying to secure herself to anything as the ship was shaken to pieces in the atmosphere, and then during the free fall. She didn’t scream, he could hear her grunts of exertion as she tried to maneuver herself into a safe place for the impact. Other than the slightest spike in anxiety, she didn’t really register any fear.


	5. Rehtaeh

Rehtaeh  
When the alarms went off, she grabbed her backpack and put it on, contingency plan step one. Step two was finding a hiding place. Some place that was secure and less likely to fall apart. She followed her instincts and headed for the prow of the ship. If the Captain decided to purge the ship, she wanted to be near the front, where the main cabins were. She found a space between two cryo chambers and wrapped her fuzzy blanket over her shoulders to protect her head from debris. Then she braced herself and hung on for dear life.   
She could hear her cot and the crates with the rations crashing around in her little room and she sent a little prayer of thankfulness to the universe that she had had the instinct to move when she did. That little meat locker had no place in it to anchor her and the crates made it dangerous to be there. The ride got suddenly wilder and rougher if that was even possible. She could hear the ship beginning to buckle around her; she could hear high-velocity winds as the upper passenger cabin was torn apart. She sent a second quick prayer up to the universe for her convict companion. Hopefully, they would both make it out alive.   
“Why him?” Rehtaeh thought. She just knew that if there was a race for survival he would be the one she would want in her corner. It was pure animalistic instinct, she had spent way too much of her life ignoring her inner will, much to her detriment. “If she had only learned to follow her own path from the start… That was a thought for another day. Today was about getting through.”   
She was being roughly slammed against the two Cryo chambers, but they held tight and she was wedged between the two, she saw debris fly past and there was stuff falling from the roof. She kept her head under the blanket letting it take the brunt of the sandblasting that seemed to be happening around her. It was all that she could do to relax enough that she wouldn’t injure herself and still be in sufficient control to ensure that she didn’t become a boneless ragdoll in the wreckage. Finally, the ship came to an abrupt angry stop and she slammed harshly against the Cryo-Cell to her right. She heard a sickening pop as her shoulder popped out of her socket, and she heard a couple of her ribs crack.   
“Frick, like I needed more injuries, haven’t I been through enough?” She thought as she unwrapped herself from the blanket and tried to stand, but her legs collapsed underneath her. Her stomach was roiling, her heart was pounding and her head now felt as though she had been struck by a sledgehammer. She could hear something scratching against the floor below her. Scratching, screeching, clicking underneath her. Like something trying to feel it’s way along the walls that had been embedded into the ground. A shiver ran up her spine and her instincts told her to run. She was about to come out of her hiding spot when a figure in black appeared before her. He placed a gun right in front of her feet.  
It was him, out of his cryo cell, he had made it. “Thank goodness!” she thought as she looked up at him. He looked down at her, there was now a small tear in his blindfold, but the bit was still in place and he still wore his chains. She made a move to stand, but he shook his head no and motioned for her to stay. He jumped and pulled himself onto the pipes, grating and hoses that were above them. She heard someone come down the ladder and her instincts screamed for her to hide, so she pulled back into the darkness, pulling the gray blanket back around her to camouflage herself. It was the medicated Johns. She could smell him. Her stomach roiled, and she choked back her vomit. She looked up at Him.   
He was concentrated on Johns, who had moved to pick up the gun that He had planted just moments before. When Johns stood, He dropped his legs down, trying to strangle the medicated man with his leg irons. There was a struggle, Johns pulled out a small tube and flicked it open to reveal a nightstick, and he started beating the prisoner. The pipes broke and the prisoner fell, his head slammed against a piece of debris and he was unable to continue fighting.  
“Somebody’s gonna get hurt one of these days. It ain’t gonna be me.” Johns said in a southern accent leaning over the con. It sounded like a joke, and yet she had heard the veiled threat that was hidden underneath. Johns grabbed his gun; he didn’t even notice that she was right there, inches away from it. Then he dragged the prisoner back up to the main level and chained him up. She could hear his movements as he did so, and as she did she realized that someone was calling her name. How long had they been calling her? It had been so long since anyone called her by her real name that she barely even recognized it anymore.  
“Rehtaeh! Rehtaeh! Where are you?” Doc May called, her voice was panicked. She heard Johns argue that there was no one on the lower level.   
“I tell you, there is no one down there. Riddick probably killed her before he tried to take me down.” Johns told the Doctor, he sounded like a know-it-all like he was trying to be the big leader. Her second thought was that His name was Riddick. She would remember that.  
MacKenzie swore and ran for the ladder. “You had better hope you are wrong, Johns. That girl is worth more than your shoddy little life.”  
“Rehtaeh! Are you down here?” Doc May called again, the panic was even greater than before.  
“Here!” she called, her voice came out as a faint whisper and she started coughing. Damn she had inhaled more dust and debris than she thought, and her lungs were burning, as though she had been running for hours. She needed to move her ass, she was not going to find safety in the bottom of the wreckage, she needed to find the others. She pulled herself onto her knees, and then to her feet, steadying herself slowly and readjusting. Her stomach had had it, after the collision with the cryo chamber, her shoulder and ribs, the scents, the dust and the lack of oxygen it was too much. She doubled over and vomited as MacKenzie came around the corner. Her eyes were watering with the pain of everything. “Is it over?”  
“Sorry Rehtaeh. Seems it’s just the beginning. Deserted planet, no way to call out. Odds are not looking so good, but you Hon are a survivor. You will get off this rock.” He made to put his arm around her, but she flinched away. He looked at her for a long moment, and then he held out his hand to her; offering his help, on her terms. “Those kidnappers really did a number on you didn’t they? Maybe someday you will be able to trust again.”  
She looked at his hand for a long time before she finally took it and whispered, “Someday, maybe someday.”  
She let him help her up and then she skirted away from him, using the cryo pods to help her regain her balance. He was a nice enough guy, but she did not know him well, she wasn’t about to trust him. They made their way to the ladder, her legs were shaking again. Frick, would she ever catch a break? She climbed slowly, one handing the ladder the entire way, her right arm hung uselessly at her side, and finally made it to the main level.   
She was just coming over the edge when she felt someone approach her from behind. An appalling feeling possessed her body every time someone entered her space. They didn’t even need to touch her for her to feel them near her. It started with a tightening in her stomach, an uncomfortable prickle of dread spread all over her body, followed by an unbearable coldness upon contact. The person behind her grabbed her under her arms and hauled her up. She could smell the medicated man touching her! Pain pierced through her body. She screamed in pain and jerked away from him, her feet touched the ground and she was turning to swing her leg around taking out his legs. It was an effective leg sweep, he fell to his side grunting in surprised pain and once he was down she scrambled back and away, hiding in the darkest corner. Her shoulder was throbbing, and he had nearly taken out the other while he was at it. “Don’t touch. Don’t touch! Don’t touch me.”  
Doc May approached her slowly, her hands were up. She was cautious, Doc May knew the sound of her patient when in pain or under duress. She also understood her trust issues, like Mac did. She had no idea why she reacted to touch the way she did, but she had seen the reaction on a daily basis since the day her body was taken out of cryo. Doc May was the only one who didn’t give her the horrific cold reaction, hers was more of a lukewarm presence, not comfortable, but also not uncomfortable. Mac, who was confronting Johns, laid it out straight what rules he had for his charge.  
“No one, and I mean No One, touches Rehtaeh unless she allows it. Due to her recent trauma and the subsequent illness she is super sensitive to everything. As it is, we don’t know how she is going to react to this God Forsaken Hell-hole we have landed on. So back the fuck off. Got it?” Mac glared at Johns. It was a staredown, Mac was bigger, and more intimidating, even with his red hair.   
“I was just trying to help her up. I meant no harm.” Johns said holding his hands up, before turning towards her. “You got a mean kick there, girl. I hope we aren’t going to have any problems.”  
She looked at him over Doc May’s shoulder, pursing her lips. What did he mean by that? As long as he kept his hands off of her there would be no problems. May offered her hand to Rehtaeh and she braced herself for the contact before she accepted the help, allowing the Doctor to help her stand up. Then the Doc let go, “What’s wrong Rehtaeh?”  
“Shoulder, it’s dislocated.” She replied softly.   
There was a scream at the front of the ship and someone called for the Doctor. The voice belonged to the female crew member. May looked at her first and she nodded, whoever that was they needed the doctor more than she did. Doc May ran for the front of the ship. There was yelling and the sounds of someone in intense pain. He was yelling for someone to ‘get it out of me’ and then ‘don’t you touch that handle’. Doc didn’t have any meds left, and the manestaphine and the first aid kit was long gone. The only thing Doc May could do was help make him as comfortable as possible before he passed. The female told everyone to leave, but May stayed, she was a Doctor, she tried to do her best for all of her patients.   
Rehtaeh understood this, but her shoulder needed to be put back into place and Doc May was the only person she trusted to do that. She could either wait or she could try to pop it back in herself. She had dislocated this shoulder twice before. Both times she had been sparring with her brothers. After having a Doctor roughly pop it back in the first time, she found that she had been able to do it by herself the second time with less pain than with the Doctor’s help. She braced her left arm and pulled it out. Mac made a move to help her and she growled low, teeth bared, “Don’t.”  
She pushed her right arm further away from her body and lifted it up, then she let it suck itself back into place with another loud pop. She couldn’t help the yelp in pain or the whimper that came after. She turned away from Mac and pulled her backpack off and let it drop to the floor. She grabbed her hand wraps and pulled her shirt over her head. She unrolled the hand wraps and tied them together end to end, then she started binding her ribs, bottoms up, going over her breasts. She tried make it tight enough to create support, but not further take away her ability to breathe. Hell, it was hard enough in this strange atmosphere. Finally, she tied off the ends and pulled her shirt back on.   
“Holy shit!” Mac gasped behind her.   
When she turned around, Mac was giving her a strange look. It was not a look that she was familiar with. So she just looked at him for a long moment before asking, “What?”  
“Really? You pop your shoulder back into place and wrap up your ribs as though it is nothing. Then all you say is, ‘What?’ like it is the most reasonable thing in the world.” He shook his head in surprise.  
“I was a trained fighter, Mac, a soldier. I have been injured countless times. This is not the first time that I have had to pop my shoulder back in by myself. Nor the first time I have had broken ribs, I am just lucky they didn’t pop a lung or take out my heart.” She told Mac quietly. She had noticed that the light outside was brilliant, hell it was bright in the wreckage as it was. She would have preferred to stay in the darkness below if it hadn’t been for the weird noises she had heard down there. Creepy, scratchy noises. She opened up one of the pockets of her backpack and pulled out her pair of gray shades. They didn’t cut all of the light, but she wanted to force her eyes to adjust. Even this was better than nothing, besides she could always grab the other pair if it got too bad. She couldn’t help the sigh of relief as she put them in place. She picked up her pack and put it back on. There was no way that she was going to leave her stuff lying around to be discovered.   
Doc May and the Crew lady came out of the front cabin, May introduced her as Carolyn Fry, third in command. Because the other two crew members were dead that made her the new Captain. Rehtaeh didn’t offer her hand, but she said softly to the woman, “I am sorry for your loss. You must have been close. Whatever others tell you, it doesn’t get easier, you just get better at pushing it away.”   
With that she walked to the rear of the wreck, she looked back once and saw the con chained to a post in the middle of the debris. There was a large gap above his head, she had no idea what madness prompted her to whisper, “Look up.”  
“What was that Rehtaeh?” Mac asked looking up and seeing only more debris hanging, dangling above her head.  
“Oh nothing, Mom just used to tell me to look up, whenever things got shitty.” Rehtaeh covered quickly. Then she stepped forward into the light. Frick, it was bright. Desert everywhere she looked. She waited until her eyes adjusted a bit more to the light. The captain was called to the top of the ship, so they followed the group, curious about what they had found.  
There was a debris trail for miles behind the ship. The worker people were introduced as Shazza and her husband Zeke, then there was the kid, called herself Jack. Definitely a girl, smelled like a girl. And a trader man, a Merchant of some sort called Paris. Like the city on earth. It had been a beautiful city, Rehtaeh had visited it once. So much history. Johns was there as well, Rehtaeh stayed well back from the group, allowing Mac and May to do the talking.  
Apparently they had vetoed going to look for more survivors, but this didn’t sit well with any of their smaller group. Both May and Mac were public servants of a sort, they wanted to ensure that anyone who had survived was found. The group was giving kudos to the new Captain for landing the ship and saving them all. Rehtaeh saw the woman’s face though, there was something wrong and Fry was shocked by getting recognition for something that she had not done. She met the other woman’s eye and shook her head. The others wouldn’t get it. Some people were able to make sacrifices for others and some just wanted to save themselves. Fry was a save herself kind of woman, and in Rehtaeh’s eyes there was nothing wrong with that. She was just a little more grateful that it had played out differently than Fry had intended, mostly because she too was a survivalist.  
Rehtaeh turned away and waited for her companions to come down after her. When they finally did she said, “I still think we should go look for others. There might be more survivors.”  
Doc May came up behind them, Rehtaeh had heard her familiar steps behind them, but Mac jumped when she said, “You might be right Rehtaeh, perhaps we should go look. Perhaps we could be of assistance.”  
They walked in the tracks created by the ship, opening up cryo chambers as they went. They must have opened twenty units before they found one with a survivor. She was so close to death that the only thing that they could do was stay with her till the end. They found three more passengers that were barely still alive, and finally one who was strong enough to walk so they sent him back to the ship. Easily a couple hours had passed when they heard the first shots. They turned back to the ship at a dead run.   
They had just passed a cryo unit that had wedged itself into the ground when the sand collapsed around it. There were some screeching and clicking. May was standing closest to the void as the sand gave way, she screamed and tried to pull herself back up onto more solid ground. Rehtaeh had grabbed May’s arm and was pulling her back up when something slammed into her back and pierced the center of the Doctor’s chest. Blood splattered all over Rehtaeh covering her head and shoulders. She was looking in May’s eyes as the beautiful brown light flickered and flattened. She stared at May’s dead eyes as the screaming stopped and she was pulled under the ground.  
May’s dead hand was still tightly grasped around her wrist and Rehtaeh was being dragged down into the hole with the dead woman. Then she saw the wedged head, with the massive teeth, the weird sensors on the pole like things sticking out of its head, May was skewered onto its clawed hand. Terrified, Rehtaeh finally got May’s clenched hand off of her wrist and she scrambled backward into the light. She ran to an edge that did not have a cavern in it and started to climb the sand, it was caving in around her feet and legs cementing her into the growing grave. Mac grabbed her hand and started pulling Rehtaeh up and away from the hole, another tentacle thing speared out, Mac saw it and rolled them both away but not before taking a hit on his shoulder. He screamed out in pain, it was a deep cut, bleeding heavily. Rehtaeh grabbed the gun strapped to Mac’s thigh, and turning off the safety, shot off a single blast into the beast’s soft underbelly. It burst, spurting blue blood onto the walls of the cave around it and dropping to the ground. When two even larger creatures took its place at the entrance of the cave, she recoiled in horror. Pushing Mac behind her and away from the edge of the hole, she looked down into the darkness where she could see the strange beasts gathering there just beyond the light.   
“Move Mac, we gotta move, there are more of those things!” She yelled the order. They scrambled away from the edge and they ran, as fast as they could stumbling over the rock and sand, trying to get as far away from the strange beast that had taken May.


	6. Riddick

Riddick  
She was stronger than he would have given her credit for. He had gone down below to see if she had survived. She was trying to get up when he arrived, but her legs collapsed underneath her. It was nice and dark down there so he had just gotten a glimpse of her as he planted the gun for Johns. She was badly injured and was about to try rising again when he motioned for her to stay. Johns was on his way. He swung himself up into the pipes and waited. The girl waited, she was not well, she was gasping faintly in the darkness, her hair was light colored, and her eyes were dark. But when she looked up at him she saw them flash brilliantly in the darkness. Interesting.  
Johns was down the ladder, flashing his light around searching for him in the shadows, he found his gun, inches from the girl and he didn’t even notice her curled up under the gray blanket. Riddick made his move. He wrapped his leg chains around the Merc’s throat and pulled tight, but the bastard pulled out his damn nightstick and started wailing on him. He got in a few good kidney shots, but Riddick would have had him if those damn pipes hadn’t given out.   
Hands behind his back tied to a post, he was already coming up with a plan to get loose, and all he needed was the opportunity. He heard the girl’s guard and doctor searching for their charge, they actually sounded worried about her. Johns told them that he had probably taken her out and he growled at that. She was an innocent. Had done nothing to him, and hadn’t gotten in his way. Hell when he gave her instruction she had followed it. No questions asked. He chuckled quietly when she took down Johns, even injured the girl was full of fire. She was a survivor. He could respect that. The Doc was about to help her pop her shoulder back into place when the crew member started screaming for the Doctor. There were feet running as everyone responded, everyone except for Rehtaeh and her guard, Mac. Riddick thought that maybe she would have the man help her with her shoulder, but when she growled out a quiet warning at the man, she proved him wrong. He was pleasantly surprised when he heard the familiar suck and pop of her shoulder going back into place.   
“Holy Shit!” Mac said suddenly his voice was somewhere between disgusted and completely awed.  
“What?” Rehtaeh asked, curious as to what the man could have found odd.   
“Really? You pop your shoulder back into place, wrap up your ribs as though it is nothing. Then all you say is, ‘What?’ like it is the most reasonable thing in the world.” He sounded completely baffled by the young woman.  
“I was a trained fighter, Mac, a soldier. I have been injured countless times. This is not the first time that I have had to pop my shoulder back in by myself. Nor the first time I have had broken ribs, I am just lucky they didn’t pop a lung or take out my heart.” Her voice was soft, she was completely honest, and trying to get the man to stop freaking out over little things. They started to move away, and the Doc and Fry joined them, making introductions.  
“I am sorry for your loss. You must have been close. Whatever others tell you, it doesn’t get easier, you just get better at pushing it away.” Rehtaeh’s words were what would be considered brutal, but it was true. She walked away from the Captain as a group they headed for the light. They stopped for just a moment at the entrance to the ship and she whispered in his direction. “Look up.”  
When Mac asked her what she meant she disregarded it as something her mother used to tell her and continued on. He had already spied the torch a few feet in front of him. All he needed was to get to it. As soon as he had a moment without audience he would take her advice. He heard them all go up top, only the Imam and his kids stayed below, still too many people around. They were up there for about ten minutes before Fry returned, she was standing somewhere behind him. He could smell her. It wasn’t long before John’s joined her.  
“He just escaped from a maximum prison.” Cocky bastard. He was trying to show the young crew lady that he was the boss.   
“So do we just keep him locked up forever?” She was afraid of him, and yet there was a touch of concern in her voice. She wasn’t sure just how dangerous he was.  
“I know that’d be my choice,” Johns said. The man was too interested in money and morphine. Whatever got him his payday, he would do just about anything to keep him in chains and under his thumb until he could get him to the closest slam.  
“Is he really that dangerous?” She whispered like he couldn’t hear her.   
“Only around humans,” Johns replied quietly with a small chuckle. They moved off to see what Paris had in his stocks, he had been telling them that he had some stuff they could drink.   
He waited for a few minutes, just to make sure the coast was clear. It sounded like everyone had moved out of the ship. Finally, he looked up. Just above him. A break in the beam, it was quite a bit above his head, but it was not impossible. He wondered how Rehtaeh had known that he might be able to use it to his advantage. She was a smart one.  
He stood up and lifted his arms behind his back, then while rising onto his toes, he popped out his left shoulder and then the right. He grunted in pain and continued to lift his arms until finally they were above his head and they popped one at a time back into place. Fuck that hurt. He was through; he let himself fall forward toward the torch, grabbing it on his way down.   
He cut off his bit and the chains, found a pair of welding goggles and silently made his way outside. Johns and Fry were out in the Cargo hold, with the Merchant and the holy man. Rehtaeh and her group had moved off following the debris trail, he could smell her trail leading off in that direction. He considered for just a moment following her but vetoed that idea, there were too many people around. He would never get her alone.  
Time to throw Johns for a bit of a loop, he knew Johns would figure it out eventually. He headed towards sunset and dropped his restraints before doubling back and heading off towards the sun that was coming up. He made his way to the ridge and then up and over, what had looked in the distance to be a treed area was, in fact, a massive bone yard. All he cared about was finding shelter from the sun and a place to hide out for a bit and materials to make himself a shiv. He found a workable piece of bone and sharpened up its edges before Johns and the others passed through. The kids were noisy, knocking on the bones and exploring the area. Johns passed through with his gun, completely missing Riddick in the little cavity in the head of the skeleton. He had to get that damn Merc off his back for once and for all.   
When they had passed on and he was clear, Riddick swung himself down and silently dropped to the ground. He stayed in the dark shadows of the bones and followed them carefully. Fry took a breath from her breather, it was not working so she tried adjusting it, it wasn’t working so she dropped the mouthpiece. He stalked her through the shadows as she came closer to his hiding spot, she leaned up against a rib cage, just on the other side of the shadows and he took out his bone shiv. She made such a tempting target.   
Apparently Johns thought so as well since he joined her offering a bottle of alcohol. “Drink?”  
She took the bottle and looked at it for a long moment before taking a swig. “I probably shouldn’t do this, it dehydrates you even more.”   
“You’re probably right,” Johns said under his breath as he crouched down. Then he continued in a louder voice, “You know you could have stayed at the ship. You probably should have, if we don’t find water you know what happens.”  
“I wanted to get away,” She admitted in a choked voice, looking up at Johns.   
“I have never seen a captain so ready to leave her ship.” Johns prodded her a little, he was obviously fishing, and his tone was purposely prying.   
“I think we should keep moving,” Fry said as she stood up and walked away from Riddick in his hiding spot.  
“What’d Owens mean?” Johns pressed her, he was still kneeling while he looked up at her. The blue eyed devil. “By not touching the handle?” For a long moment, it seemed that Carolyn was not going to give in so Johns pressed further, playing the friend card. While Johns was distracted Riddick moved in closer behind Carolyn, just inches away. “It’s just between you and me Carolyn, I promise.”  
Again it was a long moment, but Carolyn Fry leaned back against the ribcage, as she set herself right in range. “I am not your Captain.” Riddick lifted his shiv and lined it up, it would be so easy. “During the landing, when things were at their worst, Owens was at his best.” He inched closer and closer, such an easy kill. “He’s the one who stopped the docking pilot from dumping the main cabin. The passengers.”  
Hmm another woman with the survival instinct, this was very interesting. He decided he would let this play out a bit more before deciding to make his move.  
“And the docking pilot being?” Johns asks the young woman. Riddick moved in closer again. He reached out clipping of a lock of her blonde hair, proving to himself that he could have if he wanted to. Right after Johns moved in close and placed his cap on her head. Didn’t even see him in the shadows, Johns should know better. “I guess I’m a little more glad to be here than I thought.”  
Johns turned away and started heading towards the rising sun, Carolyn shifted and then lifted a corner of her mouth in a smile. Survival instinct, but gullible, Johns would turn on her at some point. Riddick lifted the lock of hair to his nose and took a couple of sniffs, gaining her scent. A mix of sweat, fear, hard work, and courage.   
As the others moved on; Riddick doubled back again, returning to the ship. There was nothing interesting in the direction Johns was heading, in fact, he wanted to be as far from Johns as possible. He wondered if the other woman had returned yet. He could wait her out.   
When he got back to the crash, everyone was busy, like little bees. The free settler, Zeke, was busy digging graves and burying the dead. His wife Shazza, the girl Jack and the pipsqueak Merchant, Paris, were working and chatting in the cargo portion of the ship. There was a nice little spot that someone made up on top of the ship, with an umbrella and a drink and a chair. Nice of them to set it up for him.   
He was sitting there looking out over the debris field, keeping his eye out for Rehtaeh and her trio when a man walked up from the field. The man was stumbling, he looked exhausted as he made his way around the ship. It looked like the Doc had managed to find another survivor. He stumbled a bit as he made his way around on the rocks, looking for more people. The noise he made alerted Zeke who came running from the direction of the graves, Shazza too was alerted and she was on high alert as the stranger came around the corner. Riddick was too far away to hear what was said, but he saw that it was a near miss when Shazza nearly took off the man’s head with a scythe. Then Zeke started shooting.   
He had them all running scared, and he hadn’t even done anything yet, he reclined in his seat crossing his ankles and took a swig off of the bottle. Zeke stumbled back in shock, his wife was covered in the stranger’s blood and Jack and Paris hung back in the chamber looking on in horror. It was several minutes before any of them recovered from the events. Then Shazza helped Zeke load the man’s lifeless body onto the sled and Zeke took it to the burial ground. Riddick followed silently. The man had a weapon, he might be able to take it off of him. Riddick heard the clicking, scratching and screeching noises as he approached the armed man. He watched as Zeke leaned in to check out the hole in the back of the pit that he had dug, he was in there looking with his flashlight when suddenly there was screaming and gunshots. There was tearing and ripping sounds coming from the hole and blood came spurting out where Zeke’s torso was torn apart before finally his whole body was pulled into the cave.   
Riddick had his shiv out listening for whatever got Zeke, he was waiting for the beast to come out of hiding when Shazza lifted the tarp. Looked in horror at the gore dripping from the hole and then up at him. He could see the conclusion as it crossed her face. There was no blood on his shiv, hell there was no blood on him at all whatsoever, but he knew that look. He had seen it too many times in the past. He bolted away from the scene. With those gunshots, Johns would be on his way. Shazza was on his tail, and he was running quickly through the over large termite towers that littered the desert, zigzagging between them, trying to keep her off of him. That was when that damn blue eyed devil ambushed him again.  
Johns knocked him to the ground and Riddick threw a couple of punches, Johns had his trusty nightstick out again and was beating him with it. Riddick went for his torso trying to pull him down and get the upper hand when Johns pulled off his goggles. The pain hit his eyes, but he knew he needed to fight. Johns was a white light in a white sky, he could see his outline, but fuck did that hurt.   
Then Shazza was on him, she hit him hard in the head once with something, screaming in rage and hurt, “What did you do to Zeke? What did you do to him?”   
Someone, Fry? Pulled Shazza off of him but not soon enough to prevent the hit that knocked him out cold.


	7. Rehtaeh

Rehtaeh  
Finally they arrived back at the ship, just in time to see John’s pulling Riddick’s unconscious body back into the ship. Shazza was freaking out, screaming for them to kill the convict, she kept screaming that he had killed Zeke. She was uncontrollable in her rage and emotional distress, It took everything for Carolyn to drag her away from Johns and the convict. Rehtaeh was in such shock that she didn’t ask any questions, didn’t put anything together. Otherwise, she would have asked why Riddick had no blood on him. If he had committed murder there would be blood wouldn’t there? Rehtaeh just stared vacantly at the scene before her, her eyes were so sore, she could feel them throbbing behind the gray lenses. Mac hauled her forward and for a long moment, the rest of the group didn’t even notice Rehtaeh and Mac join them.   
The holy man, Imam, saw them first. He took one look at Rehtaeh covered in May’s blood and asked, “My child, what happened to you?”  
“May, Doc May is dead. Something killed her, something in the ground,” Rehtaeh rasped. She was still in shock, still covered in May’s blood. “The creepy clicking, and scratching, and screeching things.”  
Johns came out of the ship, sneering at her as he took in her blood covered clothing, “I take it you didn’t find any survivors.”  
“We found one, we sent him back here, has anyone seen him?” Mac told them, looking around for the man that they had told to go to the relative safety of the ship. He was nowhere to be found, and the look on Jack’s face spoke volumes.  
“He’s dead. Zeke shot him. He thought he was Riddick.” Paris told them, spooking Jack at his sudden appearance, his entire demeanor said that this reasoning was perfectly sound and justification for murder. Jack looked annoyed with the skinny man and walked away, with a disgusted look.  
Rehtaeh’s eyes went wide with shock and pain. Doc May had tried to save someone and had sent the man to his death. It was a poor tribute to the brave Doctor. Mac took her hand and led her away from the group, pulling her toward the darkness of the ship. She let Mac lean on her they moved together into the shadow of the ship. She needed to get his wound cleaned up. They were both in shock over the loss of their friend and for the man they had tried to save. Doctors were curious people, Rehtaeh was used to the coldness of scientists, but Doctors they were a different breed. They wanted to save everybody, to make sure they lived long and filled lives, they had a need to fix people. Doc May was the best of these. Rehtaeh couldn’t help but admire her humanity. It was not a trait that she shared, but when she found it in others, she sure as hell appreciated it. She would remember Doc May as a friend. One of the few she had ever had.  
She picked up a discarded half empty bottle of alcohol and took it with her. It would come in handy for cleaning up Mac’s shoulder. Rehtaeh could hear the heart beat in the same area. They must have been fairly close to where the convict was being held. It was the coolest part of the ship in the lower level near her chamber. Mac sat down on a metal box, it looked like it had once been a fan generator or something. She opened one of the crates that held her old clothes, found something she could use as a rag, and started wiping away the blood from the wound. She stayed silent as she poured the alcohol into the cut making Mac grunt in pain. She cleaned it up as best she could before tearing up one of her old cotton tee shirts making it into a long bandage. She wrapped it around his upper shoulder, putting just enough pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, but not enough to make a tourniquet. She sat back when she was done.  
“Your turn Rehtaeh,” Mac said standing, indicating that she should sit down in his spot. She looked at him for a long moment, before deciding to allow him to help her clean up, and she sat down handing him the cloth. He poured some of the alcohol on it and crouched down in front of her. “Take off the glasses, Rehtaeh, let’s get you cleaned back up.”  
She reached up and pulls the glasses off. Then closed her eyes quickly, sighing in relief as her eyes adjusted to the soothing darkness. Mac looked at her with concern, “You still have troubles focusing?”  
“Yeah, it’s the brightness. My eyes have always been light sensitive, but it is worse now,” Rehtaeh admitted to Mac. She hated admitting that she had any form of weakness. She hadn’t even told her coach or trainer about the light sensitivity when she was working the ring. He reached up and started to wipe the blood from her skin, she clenched her fists and braced herself for the contact.   
“You’re gonna be okay, Rehtaeh. I will make sure you get to New Mecca if it is the last thing we do,” Mac swore to her, quietly. “Maybe the Captain and Johns can find us a way off this rock.”  
“I don’t trust him Mac. There is something off about that man,” Rehtaeh confided to the guard. There was no way that she would ever let that man near her and from the looks of what lived on this planet, she would be damn lucky if she did make it off alive. She just kept thinking about the noises. She shivered uncontrollably. May was a good woman there was no reason for her to die in such a horrible way.  
The Captain stormed past them on her way to the convict. She hadn’t even noticed that they were there. “So where’s the body?”  
Riddick said nothing to the woman. He was motionless in the darkness, all that Rehtaeh could hear was his strong and steady beating heart. From her vantage point, she could see Fry, but she could only hear his heartbeat and his steady breath, as quiet as even that was. Mac stopped in mid-motion so he could listen to the conversation.  
“Well, do you wanna tell me about the sounds?” Fry tried again, she looked as though she were about to lose patience. Still silence came from the man in the darkness. “Look you told Johns that you heard something.”   
There was still no answer and Fry started to turn away, “That’s fine. You don’t wanna talk to me that’s your choice, but just so you know there is a debate right now as to whether we should just leave you here to die.”   
She started to walk away, had just come up even with Mac and Rehtaeh when out of the darkness a deep low voice growled, “You mean the whispers?”  
A shiver rippled down Rehtaeh’s back, it was the first time she had heard his voice and it did something to her, she felt a pull to his voice. She shook it off and looked at Mac, who was still entranced by the scene unfolding in front of him. Fry stopped, then she turned slowly and made her way cautiously back toward the prisoner.  
“What whispers?” She whispered, her voice was faint and full of fear.  
“The ones telling me to go for the sweet spot, just to the left of the spine, fourth lumbar down, the abdominal aorta.” His voice made Rehtaeh shiver, he was teasing the captain, and he was purposely trying to get under her skin. “It’s a metallic taste, human blood, coppery. If you cut it with peppermint schnapps that goes away quickly-“  
“You wanna shock me with the truth now?” Fry cut in, she had figured it out. His little game. Rehtaeh was intrigued.   
There was a long silence before he answered her, “All you people are so scared of me. Most days I’d take that as a compliment, but it ain’t me you gotta worry about now.”  
“The creepy clicking, and scratching and screeching things,” Rehtaeh whispered below her breath. Mac made no indication that he had heard her, he was so intrigued by the other conversation.  
“Show me your eyes, Riddick,” Fry said to him. His eyes? What was wrong with his eyes? She had noticed no deficiencies in the man. He was in perfect health, masculine, and powerful. A predator. His eyes had been covered though, he had been blindfolded.  
“You’d have to come a lot closer, Fry.” He told her, she was cautious and full of fear as she made her way towards the man, now completely out of Rehtaeh’s line of sight. “Closer.”  
Rehtaeh could smell Carolyn’s fear increase, she was suddenly sweating heavier, and she hesitated for a long moment before she took those last few steps. Suddenly there were scraping, clattering noises of chains as the man stood up suddenly lunging out. Fry jumped back into her line of sight, even Mac jerked in fear at the sudden sound. Rehtaeh, just turned her head toward the sound, so completely intrigued.   
She saw the kid a second before she started to talk, having come down the stairs at just the same moment that Riddick stood up. “Where the hell can I get eyes like that?”  
Again with the eyes! What the hell were they talking about? “You gotta kill a few people.”  
“Okay, I can do it,” Jack said, with confidence. This bothered Rehtaeh in a way she just couldn’t explain. Kids and killing? What the hell had happened to this kid to turn her cold?  
“Then you gotta be sent to a slam where they tell you, you will never see daylight again.”There was a long pause before he continued, “You dig up a doctor, and you pay him twenty menthol cools, to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs.”  
“So you can see who is sneaking up on you in the dark?” The kid was totally taken in by him. She would actually consider doing this? If this kid knew half the shit that could go wrong under the care of a bad doctor, she might be less inclined.  
“Leave!” Fry called out to Jack, then she nodded her head, softened her voice and said again more gently, “Leave.”  
Jack turned, her eyes flashing in anger for a moment then she grabbed the breathing device she was wearing and went up the stairs pouting at being outed.  
“Cute kid,” Riddick said, his voice changed just a little. It is just a touch softer.   
“Interesting, the convict likes kids,” Rehtaeh smiled to herself, Mac gave her a hard look and she met his eyes and shrugged her shoulders. She couldn’t help it every instinct within her told her that the convict was the one person on this rock that she could trust.  
“Did I kill a few people?” Riddick asked as she heard him sit back down. “Sure. Did I kill Zeke? No. You got the wrong killer.”  
“He’s not in the hole.” Fry protested, trying to get the convict to admit to murdering the other man, “We looked.”  
“Look deeper.” The conversation ended there, Fry got no more out of him and as she headed back out of the ship she noticed Mac and Rehtaeh sitting in the darkness. She met Rehtaeh’s eyes and stopped for a long moment, surprise registered on her face. Then she shook her head and walked out of the ship. Rehtaeh looked at Mac her eyebrow quirked in an unspoken question. Then the horror of the young Captain or someone else going underground hit her. They couldn’t let that happen.


	8. Riddick

Riddick  
“How well do you see, Rehtaeh? In the dark, I mean,” Mac asked. His voice was low, seriously deadly quiet. They were not far from where he was sitting chained to the wall. So she had stayed for the whole exchange. He could smell her spicy scent, but it was tinged with the scent of blood, not her blood, he knew that scent, this one was different.  
“I have always had perfect vision, even in darkness. Why, Mac?” There was a long silence before Mac answered her.  
“You saw those things didn’t you? You got a good look at them in the tunnel after they got May.” He asked her, his voice was pitched with worry. He could hear the spike in his pulse and smell the burning scent of his fear.   
“Yes, go after Fry, Mac. She can’t go underground. They are horrible, terrifying creatures,” There was a long silence before someone rushed out of the ship, following Fry. Rehtaeh called after him. “Don’t let her go down there!”  
For a half a moment, Riddick thought that Rehtaeh might go after Mac, but they were going to investigate that damn hole. From the sound of her racing heart, she wanted nothing to do with the clicking, scratching and screeching things living in the dark. Hell fricking no; she was not going anywhere near there. He had found something she feared, and it still was not him. Interesting.  
He called her name in the darkness. It was soft, in a sing-song voice, like he was trying to tease her or scare her. “Rehtaeh.”  
“Rehtaeh,” When he said her name again, she stood and turned toward the sound. She walked silently towards him, her footsteps were barely perceptible. She was wiping away more blood as she came around the corner, trying to get it off her neck. “Hmmm, my favorite perfume on a woman.”  
“Funny.” She responded as she wiped more away. “You are a tease.”  
“So are you. Leaving breadcrumbs and such.” Riddick told her. “What happened to your Doctor?”  
“Dead. Beasts killed her,” She said shuddering with the memory. She stopped and looked at the floor as she remembered the incident. “Pointy spike thing went through her torso, I was right in front of her when it happened. Not much scares me, but those things. Those things terrify me.”  
“Let me see you,” Riddick demanded. She was standing about five feet away, her hair shone silver in the darkness, and she was looking at the ground obviously lost in thought. She looked up at him, and then casually walked forward. She was maybe a foot in front of his seat. He looked up into her eyes. They were shining brightly in the darkness, like a cat in the middle of the night. They were very animalistic. They were much like his.  
“Beautiful,” They whispered it at the same time. He stood up suddenly, he towered over her, looking down. She didn’t back away. Just stood there looking back up at him. Her scent had changed, not fear, lust was similar to fear, but that wasn’t it either. “What did he mean that you were worth more alive than Johns?”  
“There is a contact waiting for me in New Mecca. Both the Doc and Mac were offered five million UD’s each to ensure my safe arrival. They don’t get paid if I don’t get there in one piece.” She stood where she was, not giving an inch. She was still looking at his face, waiting. He watched her as her hand rose of its own accord and she touched his chest. Her right hand was on his heart, feeling the steady drumming with her own fingers. Her own erratic heartbeat began to slow. Her hand was warm; the pressure was light, tentative. “Contract says that anyone who can bring me in, in one piece, will get paid. Kind of like a bounty or a finder’s fee.”  
“Don’t tell Johns that. He’s a Merc,” Riddick growled, sitting back down. She was honest, didn’t hide her secrets. But why the hell would she tell a convict that he could get a massive payday if she got to her destination?   
“Merc? What’s a Merc?” She asked, curious, she stepped forward her feet between his. She was right in his space. She had done to him, what he had tried to do to her. Get in her space, get under her skin. She was a curiosity. He pinned her legs between his own, causing her to stumble, landing in his lap, her hands on his shoulders. Very cozy. Her heart sped up at the sudden contact. He caught her look, her eyes wide, her mouth parted in surprise. She tried to rise, but he held her legs hostage.  
“Mercenary, Bounty Hunter. Greed is the creed.” Riddick told her. Then they heard the clicking, screeching, scratching. Rehtaeh froze, her fingers dug into his shoulders staying close to him, her fear spiked and he reveled in the dark smell of it. There was something alluring about the scent of fear, and while he had not frightened her, these beasts had and she was sharing her fear with him. He was honored. Riddick started beating his shackles against the metal of the ship. He saw her confusion as she wondered why the hell he would make so much racket, and then she realized that he was trying to draw the beasts away from Fry. Finally the noise died down, and Johns made his way through the ship toward them, he released her and she stood on trembling legs. Rehtaeh met his eyes as she backed away and sat on the steps where Jack had come down earlier. She was sitting in the darkness observing when Johns came in and offered Riddick a deal.  
Riddick spoke first. His voice was a growl when he said it, he found humor in this, the fact that he had been right all along. “Finally found something worse than me.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.  
“So here’s the deal.”Johns was leaning against a post in front of Riddick, acting all casual like, his hand on his gun belied his true fear. “You work without chains, without bit, without shivs. You do what I say when I say it.”  
“For what? The honor of going to some asshole of a cell? Fuck you.” His eyes flicked to Rehtaeh and he saw that her disbelief mirrored his own. There had to be some personal gain in it for Johns, or he would not be putting up the offer.  
“The truth is that I am tired of chasing you,” Johns shook his head while he said this. Instinct told Riddick this was a lie. His body language said that he was not tired of anything, while his mouth was telling him something different.  
Riddick met his eye, feigning surprise. Johns didn’t really expect him to fall for this charade did he? Really? “Are you saying you would cut me loose?”  
Johns shook his head again, body truth, voice another lie. “I am thinking you could have died in the crash.”  
Riddick decided to toy with him. Push him and see just how far he would go. Riddick knew he was a payday for Johns, he would be completely surprised if Johns actually did something more than talk big. “In my recommendation, do me. Don’t take the chance that I get shiv happy on your wannabe ass.”  
“Kay,” Johns said, his uncertainty was intense. Riddick watched Rehtaeh grind her teeth together, she must have bit her tongue to keep quiet. He could smell the faint scent of her blood mixed with the other woman’s.  
“Ghost me, Mother Fucker. That’s what I would do to you.” It was a threat and a truth. “Rehtaeh in all truth should be terrified of me, but she’s not. Apparently she trusts me, why? Who knows? She is at least honest about who and what she is, everyone else is keeping secrets.” He thought. Johns didn’t trust him, and yet he knew that Riddick being free upped their chances of survival. Odds were the Merc would free him and try to double cross him later on.  
Johns whipped up his gun and fires, Rehtaeh’s eyes went wide, flashing silver in the darkness, and his chains went slack. Rehtaeh, looked on, eyes wide, with bated breath. She is excited by this. Who would have known? The girl likes the bad ass and is turned on by violence. Very interesting. Riddick clenched his jaw and pulled the chains down. Johns looks at him, as though he had just given him some big fancy gift. “I want you to remember this moment. The way it could have gone and didn’t. Here.”   
Johns moved to hand Riddick his goggles. Riddick reached for them, slowly, then he whipped out his other hand snatching the gun instead of the goggles, turning the weapon on Johns. He was concentrated on Johns now, the man seemed to think he should have rule over him. He kept the gun trained on the Mercs throat. No one ruled over him. He was not some pansy to be played with. “Fuck You!”  
“Do we have a deal?” Johns was really trying to play it cool, as though he hoped that Riddick would give in. His fear was in his eyes, and his doubts were written all over his face.   
Riddick glanced at the stairs and the girl was gone. She was fast and silent. Smart girl, Johns would not have appreciated the audience. Resigned Riddick dropped the gun, “I want you to remember this moment.” He grabbed his goggles from Johns and walked away.   
Everyone started gathering their things to take to a settlement that the other group found earlier in the day. He watched her standing with Mac, carrying a large backpack, she had white buds in her ears and she was swaying to some music humming softly. Apparently she was all ready to go. She wore a pair of snug fitting sunglasses. It must be a bitch dealing with eyes as sensitive as hers on this planet, with just a pair of sunglasses. He wondered how long ago she had gotten her gift. He could distinctly remember the adjustment that he had had to make when he had received his from the woman in the blue light.   
Johns tried to convince Rehtaeh to add her pack to the sled, but she refused coldly and was about to walk away from the man when he made to grab her pack from her shoulder. He was behind her, not even in her sight line, hadn’t even touched her yet when she spun around, took a defensive stance and blocked his hand. “I said ‘No.' I meant ‘No’. ”  
She and Johns glared at each other for a long moment. Johns was trying to figure out her weakness so that he would have leverage on her; that was the way he worked, he would use it to gain advantage later. He made light of it, like it was her who was being unreasonable. “What is your problem, girl? I was just trying to make the trip easier for you.”  
“I am a touch sensitive person and you keep stepping into my space. I don’t like it,” She told him matter of fact-like. Everyone had stopped to watch the confrontation. “Besides, I am a woman, not a girl. I can take care of myself. If I needed help, I would ask for it.”  
“If you are so tough how did the kidnappers get a hold of you?” Johns countered, still seeking a weakness he could use.   
“I was attacked by over twenty men, Johns. I killed four, incapacitated three others. I would have taken them all, but even someone like me gives up when you have a dozen guns trained on you and one jammed under your chin. I am neither stupid nor weak,” She retorted. Not even a flinch at the mention of her attack. Her voice was calm and steady. She was not going to give an inch. Tough, smart girl. “If you wanna try me, go for it. I promise I won’t pull my punches.”   
She adjusted her pack on her shoulder and started to walk in the general direction of the settlement leaving the Mac to explain her behavior yet again. Dignitary’s daughter, trying to become more independent from her parents, she was trying their patience with her bull-headed attitude as well. When they started out for the settlement, Riddick was near the middle of the group, pulling a makeshift sled filled with stuff that would be useful, and some of the survivors personal belongings.  
“So you click your fingers and he’s one of us now?” He heard Shazza say to Johns, it was like she was trying to gauge if he was going to do them harm, trying to figure out if she should worry. In Riddick’s opinion, they should all worry. The only person he cared about surviving was himself, he would ghost every last one of them. The girl too, even though that finder’s fee was a temptation, a man could go far on five million UD’s. She had purposely told him, just to let him know that she had value if she was kept alive and made it to New Mecca. She might be a lot of things, stupid wasn’t one of them.  
“I didn’t say that. At least this way I don’t have to worry about you, uh; falling asleep and not waking up.” He said looking over at her. It was a shaky story at best, now that those creatures had made themselves known, Johns was running scared. He knew that if there were anyone who could get them all off the planet it would be Riddick, and there was no way that he was going to leave his big payday behind.  
Hearing the conversation, Jack caught up with them to ask, “So can I talk to him now?”   
The cheeky kid would get into trouble if she weren't careful. What was it about teenagers? You take something away from them and they just want it more and more. To the point of obsessing over it. The kid continued on, heading up to hang out with the youngest of the Imam’s kids.   
Mac stayed near the front with Carolyn Fry while Rehtaeh stopped and let everyone pass by her, leaving her at the end of the line, she was a loner type. She obviously preferred to be on her own; she was a highly functioning individual and didn’t seem to do as well in large groups. Riddick let himself drop back as well, enjoying the space between him and Johns. Besides the girl was a curiosity, he wanted to know what other adaptations had been forced upon her over the years.   
“So, five hundred years, huh?” He wanted to see her face, wanted to see if she was lying. He was good at reading people.   
Her lip quirked, and she drew a quick breath, she had forgotten she had told him that. “Yeah, I was one of the original Universal Expedition Recruits, my brothers were on a discovery team. I was supposed to join the Medical Research unit but changed my mind at the last minute. I changed my field, decided to go into professional sports instead. I was about to go pro when my dad went awol and had a unit attack me and my mom. Just so they could coerce me into becoming their frozen guinea pig. This is all on the DL though, kay? If anyone finds out that I am actually a five hundred and twenty-five-year-old Alliance science project, I am a dead woman. The Alliance made that pretty clear,” She looked up at him, her voice steady and she seemed perfectly sincere. Her heart rate hadn’t changed. “The cover story is basically mine. They just removed my real birth date, made my dad sound all legit, and took out any mention of the Alliance’s involvement.”  
“DL?” Riddick quirked his eyebrow at her.  
“Down Low. DL. Secret. Don’t tell anyone.” She sighed, keeping her eyes on the others in front of them. They were basically alone, the others were far enough forward and they were speaking quietly, no one could have possibly overheard them.  
“So you are really a Dignitary’s daughter?” Riddick asked. It was then that they heard something fall they both looked up and saw the bottle on the ground several feet in front of them. Paris swore and turned around and ran back for it, Riddick stepped forward leaning down to pick it up.   
Paris had dropped to his knees to make a grab for the bottle and was met face to face with Riddick. They rose at the same time, Paris wiped his hands nervously on his clothes before offering his hand in introduction,“Paris P. Ogilvie, Antiquities Dealer, Entrepreneur.”  
Riddick took his and offered a feral smile as he returned the introduction, “Richard B. Riddick, Escaped Convict, Murderer.”   
Riddick pulled out the cork on the bottle and was about to take a swig when Paris continued, “That is a particularly good Shiraz. I-i-i-it’s a lovely drop.” He stuttered as Riddick started to drink, “I-it’s very expensive,” then as the convict finished the bottle, Paris’s voice dropped in dismay. “B-by all means, please, help yourself.”  
Riddick passed the man back the empty bottle and turned back to Rehtaeh, she was trying to keep a smile from her face. Paris scurried back to catch up with Imam and the rest of the group. Riddick watched her face as she watched Paris leave, it turned just a touch cold. “I almost feel sorry for him, almost but not quite. That man is going to get people killed on this planet. Too timid, no fight, it’s all flight.”  
She moved forward, she was keeping a specific distance between herself and the group, as though she had fallen behind, but yet she stayed close enough in case she was needed for anything. He pulled on the sled, keeping her steady pace, walking beside her. They were silent for a long time, walking together, and not talking. Finally, she answered his question that he had asked before they were interrupted.  
“My mother was an ambassador for the Can-US Alliance. She was in her last term. My father was a high ranking Military Official. So, yeah, Dignitary’s daughter,” She told him, it almost seemed that she was going to stop there, but she surprised him and continued. “From what I understand I was the product of a genetic experiment to create super-soldiers. A highly successful experiment, so when I tried to cut ship, my father was in charge of getting me back in line. My mom apparently had another plan. She tried to get us free, Dad killed her and by freak accident himself as well. I was taken in for their murder. As well as four others, I severely injured three, all in self-defense. It was clear that I had not killed my parents, but the fact that I assaulted and killed the soldiers gave the Alliance the means they needed in order to get me under their thumb. Right where they wanted me all along.”  
“What makes you so special, Rehtaeh?” Riddick asked her, he made it sound like an insult. It was a crazy story, but it was crazy enough to be the truth. It was like they said, the truth is stranger than fiction.   
She laughed, catching his tone, and discarding it. She threw it back at him. “Really Riddick, wouldn’t you like to know?”  
Mac had dropped back and joined them falling into step beside Rehtaeh. She fell into silence. Whatever she was thinking about she wasn’t sharing, and it seemed that she wasn’t going to fall for his bait anymore. She kept her pace and walked beside him indicating that she had not taken the insult personally, she just seemed to prefer the silence.   
“Riddick, I am MacKenzie,” Mac introduced himself, he reached around Rehtaeh offering his hand, imperceptibly brushing her arm. She flinched as though in pain, and slowed a step. Second time in one day that someone offered him a handshake. Must be a record, or he was becoming soft. The man’s grip was firm, but not overpowering, and his hand was dry. If Riddick intimidated him in any way the man hid it well. “I prefer Mac, though.”  
Riddick just nodded at the man, pulled his hand back and continued pulling the sled. “I would offer to take a turn, but I have a feeling that Johns would find an excuse to take it out on you. He’s a Merc right?”  
“Yeah.” Riddick wondered what the man was getting at. He noticed Rehtaeh speed up just enough to pass them both, and as she pulled ahead she put him between Mac and herself. Once she was on the other side of Riddick, she clicked something on a little device and he heard the music volume increase a bit. It was a hard driving beat, and the people sounded like they were screaming. Her hands started to twitch along with the beat. She was very into whatever she was listening to, every once in a while there would be an extra hop in her step or an exaggerated swing of her hips. A few times she let her long hair swing over her face, or she would lift her face to the sun whispering the words along with the music. Regardless of what movement she made she was able to keep the beat perfectly.   
“Figures. He damn near coerced Carolyn into that hole, even after I told him what Rehtaeh saw. There was no way he was going to take her word for it. The man is still holding a grudge from when she swept him earlier.” Mac told him, he was watching Rehtaeh carefully. The guard was purposely trying to keep her away from him while she was trying to stay away from her guard, it was laughable. If he had wanted to hurt the girl, she would already be dead. He’d had ample opportunity to off her, and he hadn’t. He couldn’t blame the guy though. He was just doing his job. “If he were military, he would have offed you already, just to take out the threat. A cop wouldn’t have taken you down a ghost lane without more personnel. A Merc though. It figures.”


	9. Rehtaeh

Rehtaeh  
They made it to the settlement fairly quickly. Everyone spread out, Carolyn, Shazza, and Johns headed to the skiff to get it into working order. Imam and his eldest boys started to work on the water well to see if they could get it going. Jack and the youngest of the Imam’s kids were doing whatever, where ever together.   
She walked away from the group, found a quiet place near the skiff and opened her pack. She pulled out the small computer and opened her files. She was oblivious to what was happening around her as she read. She had already read that her biological father had been a Genetically Created Super Soldier, she and her brothers were his only viable children. All of the others had either died in the womb or turned out greatly disfigured. She and her brothers had not been any type of genetic miracle for anyone but her mother, even then she had known about the experiment. At birth, her brothers were considered a success for the progress in super soldier creation while she had been considered a possible genetic mutant. There was some discussion about having her destroyed, but the plan was vetoed when she turned out to be the physically healthiest of the seven.   
As they grew, the children were monitored by doctors, teachers, scientists and her results were always at the top of the class, above even her brothers. The GCSS Division had her scores altered in the public system in order to keep the government officials and any enemies off of their trail. When her extra sensory abilities started becoming amplified during puberty, the scientists began watching her progress more intently. Especially when she went AWOL at thirteen, having ran away from home and took out a riot gang during the Vancouver Protests by herself. She had killed only those who attacked her first, proving that she had enough control of her mind and body to decipher the enemy. And yet she had not listened to orders from her higher ranking officers and had not backed down until her mother and youngest brother had arrived on the scene. That was when they decided that she would be the perfect candidate for the genetic control in the off-planet habitation experiments, along with her brothers as the recipients of her mutations.   
Everything about her life in cryo was included in the computer, yet so was everything about her brothers. There were video logs, digital pictures, family feeds, journals and diary transcripts. She saw the faces of her brothers, and she heard their voices. There were pictures of their families, wives, children, grandchildren. Yes, they had lived full lives, without ever knowing that they were part of an even greater experiment. They had been told that she had been killed along with their parents, that her body had been donated as per her request to help them create any and all vaccines that might be required for their planet. Each one had mourned her death along with their parents, having no idea that their sister was still alive, in a state of imprisonment.  
Of the 53 experiment regiments Rehtaeh had undergone, twenty-nine of them had been experienced by her brothers, fifteen by the following generations and the remainder of the experiments had been for the other planets. Including one non-authorized procedure that she had forbidden in her contract, the removal of her ova. The note in the file said only that five of the eggs were taken to assist the women of an undisclosed planet with a fertility problem. Ultimately millions of people had been adapted to foreign worlds using her genetic abnormalities. No one realized that her preternatural genetic code continued to change and amplify as she grew older and stronger. Not until the planets were populated with what those from the Alliance called a ‘superior race’ or gifted populations.   
Besides the fact that she had overstayed her original sentence by four hundred years, there were two reasons she had been released from her prison. The first was because one of her doctors had been convicted of sexually abusing her and harassing her other doctor. Rehtaeh had wondered what had happened to the touchy-feely asshole who had worked with Dr. May, now she knew. The second was because, for some unknown reason, the planet her brothers had founded was now considered ‘dead’ and ‘cursed’. All of her sacrifices had been for nothing. There was no one left. She had been hoping to see the planet that her brothers had built, to see and feel their history. It would never happen. The events that lead to the death of their world were only transcribed in a summarized version in her file. It was an invasion of mass destruction that left the planet desolate and half alive. There were thousands upon thousands of files to look at and read through. It was overwhelming to look at, much less think about.   
Needing to vent her frustration somehow she pulled out one of her sketchbooks. It was a black leather-bound book with the emblem of her company etched into it along with her artist alias R. Ennaline. She grabbed a pencil and opened the sketchbook and poured out her soul. There were a few drawings of her family already in it, she let her mind wander and added a couple of Riddick; somehow her mind had attached itself to him and was using him as its muse. After drawing one very intimate scene she cursed, put the pad away, then she picked up her pack and went in search of Mac.  
Rehtaeh took her backpack to one of the abandoned shelters, she asked Mac to watch the door. The last thing she wanted was an altercation with one of the other survivors. As Mac was keeping watch outside the closed door, there was no glass in the window so she pulled the blind, shutting out the light. Finally, she opened her pack and pulled out her other red jersey tee, so she could change. Her ribs were feeling better. One of the bonuses to being a freak of nature was that she healed quickly a few more hours and she would be back to normal, as long as she didn’t do anything stupid. The wrappings were beginning to slip, and if she was to heal properly she needed them tight. She decided that it would be a good time to rewrap them. She stripped off her sweater, and the tee shirt, and then she unbound the cloth strip. She tried to wrap the damn thing three times and not being able to hit the right fit; she just threw the hand wraps on her backpack in frustration. She was reaching for her clean shirt when she heard his heartbeat behind her. She hesitated, standing in the darkness, in her jeans, and boots and only a bra on the top, a black lacy bra.   
“Those are some pretty mean bruises. You sure you want to be taking that wrap off?” His slow gritty drawl caused shivers to run up her spine. He had come in the window behind her. She hadn’t even noticed the movement of the blind. She froze when she felt him reach around her for the wraps, his warm chest was against her back, and even with the cloth of his shirt between them she could feel the heat radiating. What the hell? Only a few people’s touch had had a similar effect on her, and never had it been so intense. Other than her family the only other person who had been compatible in any way had been her boss Dean, and even then he had not had this effect on her.   
This was the second time she had been in contact with Riddick, the first time in the wreckage her skin had prickled in anticipation and she felt warm, burning on contact. When his skin touched hers, she had to keep from gasping in shock. The touch was electric, searing and painless. The exact opposite actually, the immense pleasure she felt was unlike anything she had ever known existed. He picked up the wrap and started binding her ribs. It was a little tighter than it had been, and it was supportive enough to feel as though her ribs would heal properly and still breathe properly. She stayed perfectly still the entire time. He stopped just under her breasts and tied off the binding, going so far as to tuck in the ends, brushing the underside of her bra. She still had not moved, could barely breathe. It was the second time he had touched her, and again, she hadn’t screamed bloody murder. What was it about him that was different than every other soul she had ever met? She opened her mouth to speak when he cut her off.  
“You’re not gonna scream are you?” He asked as his hands splayed distractingly across her abdomen.  
Her heart nearly stopped altogether as he pulled her against him, compressing her injured ribs just enough to remind her that he could crush her. Good question. Why wasn’t she screaming, why wasn’t she fighting him off? She usually hated being touched. It was one of the things that made her a great fighter. “Why are you playing with me, Riddick?”  
“I like games,” He replied softly, nipping her ear. Searing heat speared through her, she was completely baffled. Of all the people in the universe who could touch her without pain, it was a murderer, sounded just like her luck had not changed, not one bit.  
“I’m not sure I like playing with you, though.” She replied, her voice had come out in a husky whisper. Her emotions were erratic. She was equally intrigued, confused, thrilled, and bewildered.  
“You are a horrible liar,” He growled and spun her around, pulling her hips against his. She arched back trying to create space between them, completely surprised when the pressure at their hips increased. She was completely disorientated by this new game he was playing. “Me, touching you like this, it makes you smell different. Like fear, but not quite. Not quite lust either.”  
“Riddick, I-I don’t understand the rules of this new game,” She whispered her voice hitched in uncertainty. She had kept the glasses on, even though the room was dark. He took them off of her face and dropped them on top of her bag. Her eyes went wide, he was acting very familiar, and she had no idea what he was doing. Hell, she wasn’t sure what she was doing! Her senses were on overload, as they had been when he had trapped her in the ship earlier. Her logic screamed that she needed to stay away from him. As far as possible. He had admitted that he was a murderer. She should be terrified. Everything else disagreed. She should be fighting him, but something, her animal instinct, held her back. She was curious about this, about him and the pleasure his touch gave her.  
He bumped her knees apart and she started to fall backward, instinct made her reach up and grip his shoulders to steady herself. Skin touched skin, and she impulsively pulled herself as close to him as she could get. There was an odd pull in her stomach as her head hit his chest, she took a deep breath, and he smelled so good. Salt, sweat, sand, wind, rain. Him. “Oh!”  
“Hmm, that’s an interesting reaction. How many men have you had, Rehtaeh?” He was winding his fingers into her hair, pulling her head to the left, baring the flesh on her neck. He ran his chin up her throat, scratching her with his stubble. Her heart was racing in her chest. He would know if she lied, but really, how did she tell that truth? She would be easy prey.  
“I have-,” She took another breath of his scent and let him pull her the other way. He tugged a little harder, indicating that he was still waiting for her answer. She let the pain take her for a moment, even that had caused her intense pleasure. She was enjoying his domination of her body; her voice was husky and soft when she responded. “I have never been with a man.”  
“Good, that will keep things interesting.” He picked her up and wrapped her legs around him, she could feel him against her, and she felt thrilled and panicked at the same time. Hot, white heat jolted up her spine along with cold confusion.   
“What are you doing to me?” Her voice was a choked whisper, her fingers spasmed of their own accord, gripping him tighter. She felt his tongue and teeth on her jaw, then a few small bites, each one a harder than the last, and she shivered in pleasure. He pulled back and looked at her for a long moment before he went completely still. “Riddick?”  
“Time’s up.” He said softly, he set her down and pulled away from her. There was a loud knock on the door startling her. She had excellent hearing and he had completely distracted her. As she turned toward the sound, he went through the window. Leaving her alone and completely bewildered.  
“Rehtaeh? You okay in there?” Mac asked her through the door.  
“Yeah, I just need a minute.” She called back. Her voice was shaky and weak, even to her own ears. What the hell game was he playing with her now? He had tried fear, he had tried taunting her, neither had gotten him the response he desired so what the hell was this? Seduction? If so, she was screwed. Way in over her head. She had absolutely no experience with men. The only men she had ever spent time with were her brothers and hell, they were her brothers. They had protected her from men as much as her sensitivity issues had. Dean had been her boss and she had not been attracted to him in any way. She shook away the thoughts as she pulled her clean shirt over her head and pulled it into place. She grabbed a thick black cloth headband from the pocket twisted it in half and used it as a scrunchy to hold back her hair. Then she packed up her bag and put her sunglasses back on her face. Picking up her bag she pulled it on and opened the door.   
“Imam and his boys got the water running,” Mac told her as she came out. “You thirsty?”  
“I’m in a desert, Mac, I couldn’t possibly be thirsty,” She replied, letting sarcasm color her answer.   
He laughed and escorted her past the well and into a building where everyone was gathering. There were glasses of water sitting on the table. Imam was saying a prayer over the water, and she heard Johns call for Riddick and say something about a party, Riddick mimicked him and a few minutes later Johns and Riddick arrived followed by Jack. Jack, who had shaved off her hair and found herself a pair of broken yellow goggles, Paris gave her a surprised look. Johns looked shocked and Carolyn looked completely unimpressed, Jack took in everyone’s expression and deadpanned, “What?”  
“It’s the winner of the lookalike contest.” Paris joked, tilting his thumb at her.  
Rehtaeh tried not to smile, Mac outright laughed. Riddick leaned against a door frame watching everyone. Mac handed her a glass of water, which she sipped, it wasn’t cold, but it was wet and hydrating, that was all she cared about. Mac put his arm around her shoulder to pull her forward into the group and she pulled away. It was like a dousing of cold water on her skin, the touch was repulsive. This was her normal reaction to touch. So why was Riddick’s presence different?  
She moved deeper into the room, ignoring the others, and ignoring the smirk that settled on Riddick’s face. She sipped from her glass, and when someone came close to her she instinctively moved away. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them; she just didn’t like the proximity to them. She tried to pretend that she was just looking at things in the room, taking in the pictures and objects and clothing that had been left behind. Whoever these people had been they had left in a hurry, they had left everything behind. The others were doing the same, wandering the room and looking at the things left behind. They kept encroaching on her bubble and the discomfort forced her to move away. It wasn’t long before she was back in the middle of the room where she had started.   
“Who were these people anyways?” Paris asked, looking at the items left scattered around the room. “Miners?”  
“I don’t know, looks like Geologists,” Shazza answered showing him a chunk of clear crystal, as she continued. “You know advanced team moves around from rock to rock.”  
“Nice of them to leave so much stuff here,” Carolyn said as she walked deeper into the room looking around. Rehtaeh moved back and away from her, brushing against Riddick, she hadn’t realized he was quite so close. The thought threw her, she always knew where everyone was, he was a distraction, a distraction that she didn’t need. She was standing right in front of him so she shuffled a little forward trying to break contact with him. She needed to keep her distance from him as much as the others. She watched Carolyn, who seemed hostile, agitated. Wanting an easy answer for a hard question? “Why’d they leave their ship?”   
Imam walked out of the room with a concerned look on his face and Rehtaeh’s eyes watched him go. Riddick’s finger trailed softly down her arm, and she froze in surprise, forcing herself not to look back at him. She was about to step away when he grabbed her left hand holding her in place. He started playing with her fingers, causing goosebumps to raise the hairs on her arms. So far, neither Johns nor Mac had noticed their proximity, and if Rehtaeh moved too quickly she would create trouble for both of them. Besides her feet had planted, her sudden immobility shocked her. She felt supercharged.  
“It’s not a ship, it’s a skiff,” Johns answered looking at Carolyn knowingly, “and it’s disposable really.”  
“It’s more like an emergency life raft, right?” Paris asked, making the connection. Finally everyone had taken a seat and she allowed herself to relax just a touch, and as she did the spark from Riddick’s exploring fingers threw a sudden shock up her arm. It took everything in her not to turn towards him. So instead she tried pulling her hand away and his grip tightened.  
“Yeah, they probably had a big drop ship take them off planet,” Shazza said jumping back into the conversation. Her face spoke of concern and fear, the probability of making it off this rock alive were dropping, and she was scared. She was grasping at false hopes.  
“These people didn’t leave. Come on.” Riddick’s low voice said what was sitting in the back of her mind. It was like he had an instinct for weakness, had noticed Shazza’s and he was going in for the hit. He let go of her hand and stepped away from her, breaking the connection. She had to force herself not to follow him, the instinct, no, the desire to do so was that strong. Her body missed his presence that much. That thought just blew her mind. “Whatever got Zeke, got them. They’re all dead.”  
Everyone looked at each other, Rehtaeh only watched Riddick, as he put his goggles back on and adjusted them. It was like he had her trapped in some kind of thrall. She needed to find a way to stop it, whatever it was. She pushed her erratic thoughts away as she concentrated on the words he was saying to the dark haired woman. “You don’t really think they left with their clothes on the hooks, photos on the shelves?”  
“Maybe they had weight limits,” Shazza said hopefully. It was like she was trying to deny any possibility that Riddick might be right and that there was something out there waiting to get them. “You don’t know.”  
“I know you don’t prep your emergency ship unless there’s a fuckin’ emergency,” Riddick sneered at Shazza before turning his goggled eyes to her.   
“He’s fuckin’ right,” Jack said copying Riddick. Well, on the plus side, teenagers had not changed a bit in five hundred years. She remembered her teen years. She had always been trying to push the boundaries, just to see what her parents would let her get away with. She bit her lip to keep from smiling, the last thing the kid needed was encouragement right now.   
“Watch your mouth,” Johns warned, apparently swearing was a no go. Rehtaeh met Jack’s eyes for just a moment. She wondered if the warning had been for Riddick to stop swearing around the kid, or for the kid to stop copying the convict.   
“Hey he’s just saying what we’re all thinking,” Carolyn said turning to Riddick, drawing him out. “So what happened, where are they?”  
Imam burst through the main door, and Rehtaeh flinched away from him. She moved closer to Riddick, but just outside of arms reach. Imam searched the room as he asked, “Has anyone seen the little one? Ali?”  
“Has anyone checked the coring room?” Riddick asked. There was a warning in his stance. Instinctively his warning spooked Rehtaeh, she wanted to leave. Run. Be anywhere but here. It was the only building that had not yet been accessed by the group. The main doors had been chained shut from the inside and other than them, it was the only room that had no other visible access. They heard the scream and everyone took off running toward the coring room. Mac was right beside Johns as they made it to the door, Mac had drawn one of his handguns and Johns had his shotgun ready in-hand. They both took a couple of shots breaking the chain.   
Rehtaeh followed at a distance she had no desire to see what was happening; hell she could hear them inside, tearing biting ripping. Clicking, screeching and scratching. She stayed way back, her fear spiked. She knew what was in there; they were smaller versions of the monsters she had already encountered. She knew that the boy was already dead. She felt a fiery tingling sensation as Riddick came up behind her, she anticipated a touch, waited for the warmth that would come with it, but he pulled away and kept walking toward the coring room. The man confused the crap out of her. She growled lowly in her chest in frustration and it grew as she heard him chuckle as he left her behind.  
She turned on her heel and walked away. ‘Focus, woman, focus. You don’t need his bullshit right now, you need to survive, not play with the big bad wolf,’ she thought to herself as she made her way to the skiff. While everyone was busy and out of sight, she took the moment to stow her backpack aboard the ship. There was nothing in there that she needed right now, and she wanted it to stay in a relatively safe place. There were a couple of empty storage lockers near the back by the cryo chairs so she carefully stuffed it into place and closed the cabinet back up. Then she headed back out to join the others.


	10. Riddick

Riddick  
Johns blasted through the door of the coring room, breaking the chains holding the door closed, he went through first shotgun ready, and Mac went in the other door. Riddick had to give credit to the guard he was very thorough, as he swept each room Imam followed right behind him, he wanted to get to his kid. Johns stayed in the main room as the other two searched for the young boy.   
“Ali!” Imam called. “Ali!”  
Carolyn and Paris held back Jack and the two older boys. Keeping them outside where it was safer. Riddick waited outside, no point in getting in the way. The place smelled of death and decay, no wonder Rehtaeh had turned back. He could hear the creatures in the dark places. He heard Imam cry out and the rending of clothing on metal at one point, and Mac went back for him. There was a sweep of metal hinges as a door swung open, and the creatures squealed and screeched as they flew by.  
“Imam, get down!” Mac called out to the holy man, his voice echoing through the chambers. The creatures made a pass by the door, Johns and Carolyn scrambled out, locking the other two men inside with the creatures. When they passed, Johns let the door swing back open just in time to see the beasts swoop up and then down into the coring shaft.   
Once Imam brought the boy’s body out for burial Johns, Carolyn and Shazza went in to investigate. Riddick followed them in. Mac still had his gun out, sweeping the interior until he was satisfied that there were no more creatures hiding in the shadows. He joined their group as Johns lit a flare and dropped it down the coring shaft. As it fell, the luminescent green light showed the skeletal remains of several bodies. If Riddick was to hazard a guess, there were at least twenty different skeletons.  
“Shit!” Mac said under his breath, “They sure as hell did a number on this group. Bones were picked clean.”  
“Other buildings weren’t secure, so they ran here,” Riddick said leaning over the lip of the shaft, looking down inside. “Heaviest doors, thought they’d be safe inside, but they forgot to lock the cellar.”  
Upset by this turn of events, Shazza left the room, heading back outside to work on the sand cat. She had been so hopeful that there had been some survivors, probably because it increased the likelihood that they too would survive. The others moved around the room, trying to get a feel for what happened. Carolyn was picking up coring samples, looking at the tags, Mac was rifling through some journals that were lying on a table. “These journals indicate they were planning to move off planet for a while. The last entries are dated twenty-two years ago.”  
“Whatever the fuck those things were, they seem to stick to darkness. So if we stick to daylight we should be alright. Okay,” Johns said turning away from Carolyn and heading to the door of the room, apparently he had seen enough and made to leave. “Let's go.”  
“Twenty-two years ago,” Carolyn said quietly, echoing Mac as she picked up yet another tag. Her brow was creased in deep thought as she started coming to conclusions.  
“What?” Johns said turning back to her. Had he not heard her or was he just being obtuse?   
“These coring samples are dated,” She replied holding up a tag, “Last one is twenty-two years ago this month.”  
“Okay, is there something special about that Carolyn?” Johns asked rubbing his nose. Riddick could tell he was getting annoyed with the captain. He just wanted to leave, he had started shaking so Riddick knew that he was jonesing for his next fix.  
She hesitated for a long moment, thinking about the things that she had seen while at the camp. A thought crossed her face, and she whispered, “It could be-”   
Mac looked at Carolyn and then at Riddick, his face was intense as the solution dawned on him. “The model.”  
Carolyn turned and left the room, going into the one that had the moving model of the solar system. She bent over it and started turning the dials following the cycle, the planets the suns and the moon, swung round and round till it hit the end of the period at twenty-two years. Everything aligned and dropped the little ball that was their rock into complete darkness. Her voice was filled with horror as she whispered, “An eclipse.”  
Riddick couldn’t help himself as he smirked. “You’re not afraid of the dark are you?”  
Johns and Carolyn walked out to go prep the ship. Riddick and Mac followed behind them. He had found a workable piece of metal earlier that could be fashioned into a shiv, it just needed some adjustment, so he pulled it out as well as a rock and started to grind the edge. Mac walked beside him, either completely unaware of what he was doing or completely uncaring. Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Mac seemed itching to get something off of his chest.  
“Looks like shit’s gonna hit the fan here pretty soon,” Mac said, when he didn’t get a response he sighed softly and carried on. “I have seen the way you look at Rehtaeh, and the way she responds to you.”  
Riddick glanced at the other man, but didn’t say anything, what was it to him how he looked at the woman? That was between him and her. “Under normal circumstances I would tell you to stay the fuck away from her, but since she seems to trust you more than Johns, makes me think. There has to be a reason, right?”  
“Get to the point, Mac,” Riddick growled at him as he ran the edge of his shiv against the rock.  
“If something happens to me I want you to get her to New Mecca,” Mac said finally. It was like pulling teeth, the man was loath to ask him for anything, but he had made a promise to Rehtaeh. With Dr. May dead and Johns out of the question that left Riddick, and Mac saw him as competition.  
“What’s it to you, that she gets there alive?” Riddick asked suddenly. Most armed guards were just as bad as Mercs, just in it for the money. “She’s just another payday isn’t she?”  
“The money, that’s incentive, sure,” Mac agreed his face took on a worried look, one of concern. “Normally yeah, these gigs are about the money, but Rehtaeh, there is something about the girl that infects you. Gets under your skin. She is too good of a person to have been dealt such a bad hand. Five hundred years under someone else’s control, her life manipulated, her tissues harvested for research. Do you have any idea how many surgeries, operations, and samples can be taken from the human body without surgery? Still leaving the body one hundred percent intact?”  
Riddick was surprised at this. Rehtaeh was under the impression that no one besides the two of them knew the truth. Mac continued talking, “Yeah, I know the real story, and I know she told you. I got ahold of her files while the Doc was sleeping, sealed up the envelope completely. No one knows what I do, and I want to keep it that way. I don’t know why she trusts you, but she does. If something happens to me, just get her off of this rock.”  
“What makes you think that I wanna risk my neck for her?” Riddick asked the man. He didn’t get to hear the answer, and Riddick was able to avoid making a promise he wasn’t even sure he could keep since the girl in question sauntered up to them. She had been on her way back from paying her respects for the dead child.  
“So what’s the deal?” Rehtaeh asked them keeping her distance as she came up beside them. As she had before she kept Riddick between herself and Mac.   
“Eclipse,” Riddick told her, looking at Rehtaeh. She went completely still, as she looked up at them.  
“When?” She asked, her voice was barely above a whisper. She knew the same as he did, that when the lights went out, those human-eating monsters would be coming out to play. Her fear spiked and he took a deep breath. She glared at him, knowing exactly what he was doing.  
“Could happen anytime,” Riddick told her, and then he taunted her. “Are you afraid of the dark, Rehtaeh?”  
“I have seen what lives in the dark, Riddick.” Her voice was hard and angry. She looked over at the ship and then at the direction of the wreck. “I have every right to be afraid. Those little fuckers you saw in the coring room, those are the least of our worries. We need to get the hell moving.”  
“What the hell is with you Rehtaeh?” Mac asked her, watching her pace across the lot, look at the sand cat and then in the direction of the skiff. “You are like a cat on a hot tin roof!”  
She looked at Mac for a long moment. She was constantly looking up at the horizon. “We are wasting too much time. Shouldn’t we be doing something? I mean, we could split into two groups, one group stays and fixes the skiff and the other group goes to get the whatchamacallits- the uh, power cells.”   
Riddick spied a bucket of grease and decided to test his blade. He grabbed the bucket and sat himself down beside the skiff. The perfect place to hear what was going on inside, as well as keep his eye on the girl, who suddenly seemed to have an overabundance of energy. She was right but there was no way in hell Johns would allow that. There was too much opportunity for Riddick to get the upper hand and make his getaway. No Johns would want to wait until the very last minute.   
“They are coming up with a plan, Rehtaeh, we should wait for them,” Mac told her trying to get her to calm down. His voice was soothing, and it would have worked on anyone except Rehtaeh. She just became more agitated. She was prowling, pacing her heavy boots whispering over the gravel.   
“Fuck that! I am outta here.” She had gone feral, she was running purely on instinct, and they were telling her to act and act now. He had never seen another person turn to their animal side for survival. Many times he thought that he was the only one who could do it, and here she was prowling around the lot like a caged beast. She turned and started in the direction of the ship. Mac went after her grabbing her right shoulder, spinning her around.  
She used the momentum and swung her left arm, her fist connecting with the guards jaw. Riddick heard the connection and Mac’s grunt of pain as he stumbled back, looking at her in shock. Her right arm came up hitting the larger man in the gut and then again in the kidneys with a solid left. When the man doubled over she kneed him in the nose sending him sprawling. She raised both fists into guard position and waited, not taking her eyes off of Mac. Mac got to his feet and took several steps back watching the angry girl warily, he was obviously uncertain of his charge’s intentions. He held up his hands in supplication, “Calm down, Rehtaeh.”  
“You want to waste my time?” She yelled at him, she was full of pent up energy and anger. “You want me to calm the fuck down?”  
“Yeah, I do!” He snapped back, his usual calm demeanor slipped away in anger at the defiant young woman.  
“Make me!” her head was down, her eyes looking up through her lashes. Her rage was written in every angle of her body as she stalked towards her prey. As much as he would have loved to see what skill she had, the girl was badly injured. He had seen her bruises and felt her ribs under his hands, she had three cracked ribs, they were holding for now, but a single hit could cause severe damage.   
“Rehtaeh, enough. Go cool off.” Riddick stood and stepped between them. Rehtaeh growled at him, she was looking from one man to the other, he could see her mind calculating whether she felt she could take on both of them. She settled into a fighting stance and prepared for a fight. She was confident that she could take them both out! The thought of her even trying him while wounded nearly made him laugh. If she was this feisty in anger, what would she be like in lust? He wondered what she would be like after he toyed with her for a while. Would she get this revved up for him? How far could he push her before she went over the edge?   
“Rehtaeh you are injured! You need to calm down!” Mac reminded her coming around Riddick’s side not realizing the threat. Rehtaeh threw herself at Mac, hands raised in attack and Riddick caught her in mid throw hauling her back against him. She struggled hard for a moment, until he squeezed her gently, reminding her of her pain. She whimpered but continued to struggle against him, her tolerance for pain was high if he squeezed her any tighter he would be doing more damage.   
“Mac, stay back. She has been looking for a fight for days,” Riddick told the other man. Mac’s surprised eyes moved from him to Rehtaeh, who was still looking at Mac with a feral growl on her lips. Mac stepped back and Riddick used his distraction to spin the angry woman in his arms. He pinned her arms between them and she struggled against him, trying to get to freedom. “Rehtaeh, look at me.”  
“Let me go!” She growled her voice was enraged. She arched her back and then bucked against him, her soft hands grabbed the back of his neck, kicked her booted foot back taking out his knee and she hauled him over her shoulder.   
“I’ll make you pay for that.” He growled as he rolled to his feet. He was about to reach for her elbow to spin her around when she turned in the opposite direction, using his momentum in her favor as she lifted her booted foot and took out his feet sending him sprawling. She grunted, and Riddick saw a flicker of pain cross her expressive face. He had not expected such an attack, who the hell was this woman, and where had she learned to fight? He had been going easy on her because of her injuries, and she had taken him down twice within a two minute time span. “Fine, you want to fight let’s fight, but we do it on my terms.”  
“Whatever floats your boat, honey, just get on with it,” She taunted. She was already in a defensive stance; feet spread, one slightly before the other, knees bent. Her hands were in front of her face, her left guarding her chin, her right shielding her face. He started with a slow jab, which she easily blocked and countered with a fast jab of her own, a kidney shot, which connected hard. He was surprised at her strength. She was easily a foot shorter than he was so most of her shots would be body shots. He sped up throwing a right hook which she saw coming a mile away she easily avoided it, kicked a foot out and buckled his right knee. “Come on Riddick, stop fooling around, I am not a china doll.”  
Still controlling his hits to ensure her safety, he threw a combo, right, left, jab, right, uppercut; he even tried to throw in a kick which she quickly blocked. She countered; left, jab, jab, uppercut, and a sucker punch. He blocked everything but the uppercut and the sucker punch. According to the speed of the last two hits, the others had been a distraction tactic. They sparred like that for fifteen minutes, he refused to let things escalate if anything he was trying to get her to calm down. To throw her off he threw in some dirty shots, going for the neck, chest or groin, but she always seemed to be a step ahead of him. He tried to get her on the ground and she avoided all of the takedowns as well.   
“How do you do that?” Mac asked, from the sidelines. The man’s voice pulled her out of the fight, distracting her for a long moment. Riddick watched her in fascination, they had been sparring for over twenty minutes and she was no more winded than he was. She was, however, in a great deal of pain, even though she was trying hard to hide it.   
“Do what, exactly?” She asked in return. She wasn’t trying to be oblique, she was doing a lot that might require explanation to someone who wasn’t aware of her techniques.  
“You already know his attacks before they land, I know he is not telegraphing his movements, hell I can barely see them coming,” Mac replied as Riddick moved in to throw another long combo. She blocked everything except for a small clip to the jaw, which she shook off easily. Riddick nearly laughed at that, he was a better fighter than Rehtaeh, hell he had been going easy on her, and her fighting was flawed. She kept dropping her right guard because of her earlier dislocation and for some reason she favored her left knee. Her speed and agility were exceptional, but her flexibility was low due to her injuries. He would have loved to fight her uninjured.  
“Oh, but he does. I have what is called Amplified Dermal Sensory. I can feel the movement as it happens, even from several feet away,” Rehtaeh answered quietly, she took a deep breath and looked up at Riddick. Her lips quirked up at the corners, there was something else in that little smile, it was a knowing smile. A.D.S. That explained a lot. He had heard that some of the best genetically engineered soldiers were adapted with that specific trait to make them more aware of their opponents. It also tended to make the soldiers go insane over time, because of the lack of human contact. “If I concentrate, I can feel where everyone is within a ten-foot range.”  
“That is bullshit.” Mac spat, in disbelief. “Prove it.”  
“Okay.” She pulled the thick black band from her hair and took off her glasses and put them on the ground. He heard her tiny gasp at the pain in her eyes and it took her a moment to readjust, then she put the black band around her face, completely covering her eyes. “I am as good as blind now.”  
She stood back up, her nostrils widened as she scented the arena. Her muscles tensed visibly as she turned to where Mac was standing, bowed once and then turned back to Riddick centered herself and dropped back into a defensive position. He swung left and she blocked him. He swung right with a left jab and right uppercut, she blocked them all again. She countered with a strong left to his jaw, which he blocked. “Imam, Hassan, and Suleiman are behind me seven feet and thirty-eight degrees left.” She blocked his incoming knee and responded with a hook to his leg and dropped him onto his back. “Paris just came from the around the corner.” He rolled up swinging his left arm for momentum, she grabbed that arm, twisted it and pinned him in a hold. “Jack is on the roof behind Mac hiding under the tarp. Shazza, Carolyn, and Johns are not in the perimeter. I will let you know if that changes.”  
Mac swore under his breath about the insanity of science and some degrading remarks against scientists. Riddick chuckled softly. There was a gasp from Jack as she peaked out from her hiding spot. Riddick broke Rehtaeh’s hold and spun her to face him, everyone else stopped and just stared at them. She shook off his hands and backed away and stood there for several moments, blindfold still in place. She was waiting for his next attack, she was completely vulnerable at the moment and yet completely dominant. She took off her blindfold and put her glasses back on.   
“Is that why you freak out when people try to touch you? Is that why you avoided large groups and seemed to be playing musical chairs when we were getting water?” Jack asked from her perch on top of the building.  
“Yes.” She looked uncomfortable as she glanced at Mac and then towards the skiff. Riddick couldn’t see her eyes behind the glasses, but her head tilted just a fraction toward the other side of the camp, to the trail that lead to the wreck. Giving him every indication that she was gonna bolt.  
“What does it feel like?” Mac asked her next as she started to back away from Riddick. He turned and made his way back to the grease bucket so he could test his shiv. He took a seat beside the skiff and listened to her exchange with the bodyguard.  
“Right now I feel your presence, it’s like apprehension, you are several feet away, so I am uncomfortable but okay, anything within a foot feels like ice water being poured on my skin. A touch seems like an icy dagger. It is intense.” She said as she walked towards Mac, standing just outside a foot’s distance away from him. “Imagine it Mac, every time you touch me or I hit you or block a blow, I feel physical pain. It feels like torture, being touched by anyone who is genetically or physically incompatible. You know the fucked up part? I enjoy the pain, but only when I am fighting.”  
“Have you ever met anyone who is compatible?” Mac asked next. Riddick’s ears perked up, she hadn’t been fighting Mac she had been fighting him, had he been causing her pain? He didn’t think so, her reactions to him so far had all been positive.  
“There have been a few people. I am going to find a place to rest up.” She said walking away, making her way to the other side of the settlement, making her way back to the wreck. Riddick watched her, if she had skirted him, it would mean that his touch caused her pain.   
“And what do those people feel like?” Mac asked following behind her, trying to get her to stop and talk to him.  
“I don’t know, comfortable? Almost warm but not quite? I still feel their presence, but it doesn’t hurt. Look Mac, I’m tired, I’m going to find a shady place to rest for a bit.” Rehtaeh sounded irritated. Like she was trying to figure something out inside her mind. She stalked away from Mac, heading towards the skiff and the shadows of the buildings. He knew that the trail to the crashed ship was just beyond that, he would bet that she was purposely trying to ditch the guard in order to get back to the wreck like she had suggested earlier. She looked at Riddick as she approached and whispered for his ears only, “Thanks, for taking it easy on me.”  
“Where are you going, Rehtaeh?” Riddick asked her quietly as she passed him. So she had known that he was not trying to best her, had he been that obvious? He didn’t think so because Mac had said that the hits were too fast to be telegraphed.   
“For a walk. What’s it to you?” She said as she walked past him. She passed within a foot from him, taking a deep breath as she passed him. She shook her head and sighed and then shrugged as though trying to shake him. Nope, it was as he thought, his body was compatible with hers, but it only partially explained her disorientation where he was concerned. She hadn’t acted like his touch was just comfortable, it had surprised her. He wondered what it was that she felt when he touched her, he knew it was intense enough to throw her. She had been trying to figure him out all day. He just needed to keep her off balance.   
“And if they get the sand cat going?” He asked as he started to apply the grease to his scalp.   
“Then pick me up on your way by.” She called back to him. She had just stepped out of sight when Johns came out of the ship, he was shaking like a leaf. He knew that Johns was still trying to play the captain and was trying to make sure that Riddick couldn’t get the drop on him once again. He bet that the Merc had told the captain about his most recent escape. Johns was always out to save his own ass.   
“That’s a bad sign. Shaking like that in this heat.” Riddick pulled the shiv across his oiled scalp and then scraped the blade against the metal bucket. Johns coughed and started to throw up.  
“I thought I said no shivs.” He had another bout of the heaves and looked at Riddick.  
“This? This is a personal grooming appliance.” Riddick said as he took another swipe at his scalp, and again swiped the blade on the metal bucket. It was amusing, to say the least, he was shaving his head and sharpening the blade all at the same time, and really Johns couldn’t say dick-fuck-all to him about it. He definitely wouldn’t confront him while so weak and in need of his morphine, his drug of choice. The Merc moved off to find a quiet place to take a hit. Riddick finished shaving his head and headed toward the access ramp of the ship, intending to talk to Fry.  
“Hey Riddick, did Rehtaeh say where she was going? I have been looking for her everywhere.” Mac asked as he walked past. “She told me she was going to rest in the shade. I can’t find her anywhere.”  
“She said she was going for a walk.” Riddick looked at the guard pointedly.   
“Shit. She is just too quick, that one. Too damn smart for her own good.” Mac said, more to himself than anyone else. “Shazza almost has the sand cat going.”  
Riddick watched the man walk away and then headed to the back of the ship. The guard was smart but way too naïve to be watching out for someone like Rehtaeh. That woman could run circles around all of these people, he was the only one she might actually listen to and even then he had a feeling that she would be defiant to the end. The ramp was just closing as he ducked silently into the dark. The hatch clicked closed and Carolyn flipped the switched to set up the drive to run a hull integrity test. She slid the pilot seat back and turned toward the back of the ship, her eyes widening in fear when she saw him standing in the dark.  
“Looks like we’re a few shy.” He said looking at her; he just stood there looking intimidating in the darkness. She met his gaze in surprised confusion, as he looked down at the singular power cell sitting on the floor of the skiff. “Power cells.”  
“They’re coming,” Carolyn whispered, gripping the back of her seat. If she could, she would bolt, but he was blocking the way off of the boat.  
“It’s strange not doing a run up on the main drive yet. Unless,” Riddick paused hanging up his breather and turned back to her, “Unless he told you the particulars of my escape.”  
“I got the quick and ugly version,” Carolyn admitted. She was worried he would kill her. He could see it in every line of her body. She was tense and cold, trying to stay calm, trying to be brave.  
“Now you’re worried about a repeat of history.” He was leaning against the wall at the very back of the skiff and he slowly started forward. He stalked toward her slowly his boots sounded weighty in the little ship.  
“It has entered our minds.” She pushed two buttons, on a panel on the wall. Riddick stepped forward, stepping on a couple of open panels, the sound of them snapping shut echoed loudly in the small vessel. He could tell the sound startled her and she was trying her best not to show her fear.  
“I asked what you thought.” He said to her softly a small smirk playing around his lips. He was trying to get her to realize that if he wanted her dead she would be already. He could take her out anytime he wanted and yet she was still alive.   
“You scare me, Riddick, that’s what you wanna hear isn’t it?” She looked up at him her eyes were wide, she blinked trying to calm down, looked up at him again, and said, “now can I just get back to work?”  
“I’ve been meaning to catch up with you alone. Unrestrained. Do ya think, ya think Johns,” Riddick said from behind her, he could tell that his words were getting to her, “Is a do right man. You think I can trust him to cut me loose?”  
“Why? What did you hear?” She whispered back. The smell of fear, she reeked of it, and he reveled in it. He wondered just how long he could play with her and keep her on her edge like this.  
“Well, I guess if it were trickeration he would just ex me out, huh? He’d kill me. Then again, I am worth twice as much alive.” Riddick came in nice and close, her pulse rate spiked and she began to sweat. “Oh, you didn’t know that did you? Your Johns, ain't a cop. He’s got that nickel-slick badge,” He moved to her other shoulder, her heart hammered in her chest, he could hear it throbbing there. “And the blue uniform, but he’s just a Merc.” He switched back to her other shoulder, she was just about to freak out as he whispering in her other ear, “And I’m just a payday. That’s why he won’t kill me see? The creed is greed.”  
“Don’t waste my time,” she cut him off, her courage had kicked in. She was trying to calm herself down and keep her head, “we’re not gonna turn on each other, no matter how hard you try.” She sat back down in her seat, pulled it forward and started flicking more switches. Riddick stepped forward leaning on the back of her seat. She had realized that he wasn’t out to kill her if he were she would be dead, he had planted a seed of doubt in Johns and that was all he needed.  
“I don’t truly know what’s gonna happen when the lights go out, Carolyn, but I do know, once the dying starts, this little psycho-fuck family of ours is gonna rip itself apart.” He sauntered to the back of the ship, his steps echoing in the darkness. Time to throw the wrench into her cute little relationship with the Merc, “You ever wonder why Johns shakes like that? Ask him. And ask why your crew pal had to scream so painfully before he died.”  
The hull integrity test finished and the hatch opened, Riddick grabbed his breather and walked down the opening ramp. That was fun, not quite as fun as the other game he was playing, but fun none the less. Now, to sit back and see if the rats took the bait. He climbed onto one of the buildings to take a look off to the horizon, the rings were starting to appear, they needed to get moving. Carolyn went in search of Johns, their conversation was short, she stormed out a few minutes later when Imam’s older boys went to warn her about the eclipse. Everyone scrambled for the sand cat. As he reached the area, he heard Jack ask where he was, and Paris’s snide remark. It was true, but unnecessary. Riddick jumped into the sand cat right behind him just to spook the smaller man. Mac was seated at the very back.   
“Where’s Rehtaeh?” Shazza asked the bodyguard, who had the decency to look chagrined.   
“She’s already walking,” Riddick told the woman, ignoring the glare she shot in his direction. “We can pick her up on the way.”   
Shazza called for Johns, who came out of one of the outbuildings as the sand cat passed. Riddick grasped his hand and gave the Merc a warning look before pulling him on board. Johns stood by the small hoist crane that was built onto the back of the cat. Riddick sat on the opposite side of the cat, near Mac, keeping an eye out for the young hotheaded woman. She must have had made it quite a distance because they were just about out of the canyon with the skeletal remains, and they still had not seen her. They were headed under a massive bone structure where Jack would have had her head taken off if he hadn’t given her a warning, and the kids all screamed as the bones collapsed around them.


	11. Rehtaeh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the massive delay in posting the rest of these chapters. There is currently a total of 73 chapters; I will try to get them all up tonight.

Chapter 11  
The man was driving her insane, what the hell was his deal? She had felt a connection from the day she first heard his heartbeat, he had been locked up and tied like a dog and here she was, ready to get all cozy with him. She didn’t even know him for cripes sake! He reminded her of her brothers with their mind games and tricks, she understood that part of him. Hell, she liked that part of him, it kept things interesting and entertaining. He had a dark sense of humour, which she also liked, and he could obviously hold his own, he was a survivor. The more she got to know him the more she liked him and under these circumstances, the last thing she needed was a distraction. In her mind that was exactly what he was; a major distraction. Her subconscious was making intimate connections with him. Her instincts screamed for her to keep him close, her body was too busy freaking out in his presence that her logical mind just couldn’t seem to keep up with everything. She needed as much distance as she could get from him, just so that she could get mind wrapped around her feelings for him.  
He had taken it easy on her when they were sparring, she was fully aware of it. It was as though he understood that she needed to expend excess energy, and yet she knew he could have taken her down in a heartbeat. It had been one thing to go easy because of her injuries, but he had allowed her to use him as a punching bag. Of all the things she had come to know about him, that was the most confusing. Why would he do that? It made no sense. He was the type who preferred to dominate, had he been testing her?  
She was walking quickly, the whole idea of the eclipse had her spooked. She was just coming to the end of the canyon, she had wasted no time looking at the massive bones or the remains of the beasts. She wanted to be back at the ship getting those power cells immediately, not waiting for some wasted addict to make up his mind whether his bounty was worth the trouble of keeping around. That type of decision-making got people killed. It was pure bullshit. If she could get to the crash site and at least pull the cells, they would save a hell of a lot of time. They just had to stay ahead of the eclipse. As she came up over the rise, she looked to the horizon and a chill brushed over her entire body.  
“Shit, shit, double fucking shit!” she cried and started to jog. “Stupid, Rehtaeh. That was stupid, leaving the safety of the group.” She thought. She was in the middle of the fucking desert, with no weapons, and the planet was rising fast. At this pace, she would never make it. She had at least another hour to walk, she could half it if she ran full out, but that would leave her no juice to survive.  
She heard the sand cat before she saw it come over the ridge, she could hear everyone hollering at her. She adjusted her speed and as they passed two hands were offered to her. Riddick and Mac. They were near the back, they had both stood up a little to reach for her. There was just enough room for her to jump in, but only if she planned it perfectly. She grabbed both hands and used the momentum of them pulling her up to vault feet first into the cat. Mac let her go as she landed on her feet in the middle of the sand cat’s bed, and Riddick held her, steadying her against him. Her heart leapt and her skin sparked against him. He practically purred in her ear, “Nice move.”  
“Thanks for picking me up,” She said trying to mentally shake his effect on her. He sat back in his spot and she remained standing using the overhead beam to balance while she surfed the ride. It was rough, but she saw it as a challenge. She was doing just fine until they went over a bump and something freezing cold slammed against her knees and she fell forwards onto Riddick’s lap her ribs banging hard against his legs. She ground her teeth together once again to hold in her cry of pain, even then a small whimper escaped.  
He pulled her into a sitting position on his lap and when she tried to stand he held her there, not allowing her any movement. She looked up into his hard face ready to ream him out, but he had turned to look across the cat at Johns, who was smirking from his spot by the hoist. The jackass Merc had pushed her on purpose. Riddick buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath, she clenched her fists to keep from shaking, and she watched as Johns smirk changed to a mask of cold fury. She felt the heat rise in her body like it did every time Riddick touched her, and she tried her damnedest to ignore it. It was becoming intense. When he had pinned her earlier that day in the ship, the contact had been warm. In the small room, the contact had been more concentrated, during their little sparring match she had been revelling in each hit and block and now it was bordering on intense. It seemed the more he touched her, the more his touch affected her.  
Thankfully it was not much longer until they were back at the crash site. That planet was moving fast, they were running out of time. As soon as they came to a stop, she nearly leapt out of Riddick’s arms and headed for the interior of the ship. The group scrambled, Paris headed for the cargo hold. Mac went with him in hopes of helping Paris gather his belongings more quickly.  
She took the cell that Imam had intended to carry and followed Riddick and Johns, they needed four according to Carolyn. Riddick had taken two, Johns one and then the one she was carrying completed the quota. When she carried the last one out by herself and lifted it into the bed of the cat without assistance Johns gave her an odd look. “What? They’re not that heavy.”  
It was getting dark. She took off her sunglasses and used one of the arms to tuck them into the strap of her bra, between her breasts and under her shirt. It might look funny, but hell, they were secure, in case she needed them. Shazza was still sitting in the sand cat trying to keep the thing going in the fading light, but it was no use, the eclipse was coming on too fast.  
Rehtaeh had heard the beasts before they started rising into the darkening sky. Her skin crawled, and her heart raced, she heard Riddick’s comment, and couldn’t disagree more. She guessed it was all a matter of taste. These beasts were in no way, “Beautiful.” She froze for a long moment as she watched the creatures rise into the air like a razor blade hurricane. Then she heard Paris’s warning.  
She was last in the pack, behind even Riddick. She sprinted past him, running at full throttle. She felt their icy little bodies as they entered her bubble and she launched herself over the lip of the hill. She grunted in pain as she landed and rolled to a stop right next to Shazza. Her poor ribs were never gonna heal at this rate. They were both breathing hard, as the horde passed overhead. Fuck the little beasts were more horrifying in multiples. She could hear them coming back around. Shazza was readying to get back up, Rehtaeh, placed her hand on her shoulder and whispered, “Do not move, they are coming back around.”  
“How do ya know?” Shazza said stiffening. She really had had no time to get to know this woman, but she seemed like a fair sort.  
“I can hear them,” Rehtaeh whispered again. “Be ready, but do not move until I give you the signal, got it?”  
Shazza nodded, getting her arms ready to push up, and her feet ready to sprint. As she thought, the horde came back around for another pass and Rehtaeh waited until the last one flew by, “Now! Go, go, go!”  
They both ran, booked it into the shelter of the cargo hold. Rehtaeh was sure that because the little beasts had not gotten a kill, they would be back for another pass. Paris was yelling for everyone to get inside so they could close the door, Shazza didn’t hesitate and went inside. Rehtaeh stopped beside Carolyn and waited for Riddick as he walked the remainder of the way watching what the fuckers were doing above the container. Her skin was crawling, how could he be so calm about it? What the fuck had he seen in his life that would allow him to be so composed in a situation like this?  
She heard the beasts scratching at the holes underground, she could feel the crumbling of the rock beneath her feet. She was paralyzed in sheer terror. Nothing in her military training had ever prepared her for a situation like this. The rocks began to tumble and large clawed talons pulled the T-headed raptors out of their termite holes. They were making whooping noises to each other talking to each other as they launched themselves up and into the air coming straight for them.  
“What is it, Riddick? What is it now?” Carolyn asked in fear. The woman was probably just as scared as Rehtaeh was and she couldn’t see what they could. Rehtaeh would so almost anything to not see the creatures that had killed Doc May.  
“Like I said, it ain’t me you need to worry about,” Riddick said as he watched the beasts. Rehtaeh was glued to her place by the door, she could do nothing but stare at the creatures coming toward them her skin crawling.  
Carolyn bolted for the door and Riddick swept her up as he went by, closing the door behind him. The heat between them was like an electric charge, sparking her brain back up. He set her on her feet and made to move away, but she clutched herself to him, holding him where he was. She just needed a moment. She closed her eyes. Breathed in his scent and forced herself to calm down. There had been times during training when things became too intense and she would need a moment to get her bearings. This was just like those days. She methodically shut off her emotions, she turned off her fears, and she shut down any thought processes that were not useful. She forced herself into survival mode.  
Releasing him, she turned away from Riddick, stalking toward Mac, in the darkness. “Mac, give me one of your guns and a knife.”  
“What?” He asked in surprise in the darkness, she had come out of nowhere. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Rehtaeh.”  
“It’s an exceptional idea, actually, Mac.” She retorted softly. “I can see in this while you cannot. Give me the weapons or I will just take them from you now.”  
“Do you even know how to use that weapon?” Johns asked, from behind Mac. She looked at the man’s face and wanted to slap him.  
“Here’s a question with a more obvious answer; are you an asshole, Johns?” Rehtaeh replied as Mac held out the gun in the darkness. Johns glared darkly in her general direction. Then Mac leaned down and pulled out one of the knives from his boot. She tucked the gun into her belt, making sure the safety was on and then slid the knife into her boot.  
“She is an exceptional shot actually,” Mac reminded Johns, his voice was hostile, several times during the day he had asked her why she didn’t trust the Merc. He was beginning to get it, the man was an idiot. “Don’t you remember Johns? She took that one out earlier. I told you about it, right before you made Carolyn go into that damn hole for no bloody reason.”  
Carolyn gasped, she had risked her life going into that hole. She hadn’t heard that Rehtaeh had already confronted one of the monsters she turned towards Johns’ voice and yelled, “What the hell Johns? I nearly got killed down there!”  
“I don’t trust her with that weapon, is all.” Johns’ voice sounded almost soothing as though trying to convince the others that she was some killer and that he was still the good cop.  
“She’s military Johns, she can handle a gun better than you can,” Mac growled at the Merc, his voice was lowering in a quiet rage.  
“With those monsters out there, I want to be sure I have a way to kill the fuckers. There is no way I want to be on the receiving end of those stamen spears.” She growled into the darkness.  
“Stamen spears?” Jack whispered in fear, Rehtaeh regretted saying anything. She had just elevated the level of fear and anxiety in the hold more than it had already been. It was now bordering on intense.  
“And what if you freeze again?” Riddick asked, coming up behind her. She turned towards him, met his eyes and gave him a feral smile.  
“That won’t happen again.” She vowed to him, she was angry with herself for allowing her fear to take over her body. “I won’t let my fear take me away again. Not this night. I prefer the dark, this is my time.”  
Johns and Imam turned on their flashlights and there was a flick of a lighter and a flash as the light caught. She closed her eyes and let them adjust naturally to the lights. Riddick was further in looking down into the tunnel. There was scratching at the walls and the whooping of the creatures as they tried to gain access to their prey.  
Shazza caught her gaze in the dim light and looked at her uncovered eyes. The woman had barely said a word to her all day, but apparently saving her life had warmed her up a little. “Wow, Rehtaeh, why do you always wear those glasses? You have the most beautiful eyes!”  
“They are sensitive to light,” Rehtaeh whispered back softly, smiling at the other woman. She knew that, at the moment, her eyes would seem normal, almost human in the dim light, but in pure darkness they would look like a cat's eyes. “On the plus side, I can see in the dark.”  
“Do you think they have gained access already?” Mac asked from the middle of the group.  
“There could be a breach in the hull, I don’t know,” Carolyn said as she peered through the darkness.  
“Where do you think they are hiding?” Mac asked Rehtaeh, now that he knew she could feel them as well as see them, he was beginning to rely more on her.  
“Come on Johns, you got the big gauge.” Riddick taunted at the front of the group peering into the darkness. Rehtaeh knew that his vision was partially impaired due to the flashing passes of the lights.  
“I’d rather piss glass,” Johns replied. “Why don’t you go fucking check?”  
Rehtaeh rolled her eyes at the chicken shit Merc and stepped forward, gun up at the ready, she flicked the safety off. She could hear one nearby, but it was outside of her sensory perimeter. She was about to move forward into the darkness when Riddick’s hand on her shoulder held her back. She looked up at him and he shook his head no. Why? What was it to him if she went to check, if she could take it out? He turned her and pushed her gently towards the others, she shot him a glare and he cocked an eyebrow at her. He was daring her to disobey him. She was tempted. He must have seen it in her face, he growled and blocked her way. She shook her head and turned back towards the others.  
Paris started freaking out. He was afraid of something getting him inside the hull, completely disregarding the creatures that lay in wait just outside. Shazza and Carolyn calmed him down, making him sit and take a breather. Imam found an access panel and opened it up, everyone followed him inside. Once Riddick and Rehtaeh were through he locked the panel back up. As he leaned on the panel sighing in relief, Rehtaeh felt something new come into the circle just outside the panel. She spun in the direction and raised her hand and pointed the panel calling Imam’s name. He looked up at her just as a blade like stamen bone pierced the panel, right beside his head, had not even had time to warn the holy man. The bone missed Imam by mere inches. And the man scrambled away from the protruding bone. Johns took a couple shots at the panel weakening it.  
“It’s dead Johns, you can stop firing.” Johns gave her an odd look, wondering how she could possibly know this, but he lowered his gun. She knew the moment he killed the beast. She felt it disappear from her senses, it didn’t move, it just faded away. Such an odd sensation. There was nothing else out there at the moment. Rehtaeh would feel it if it were. She needed to stay on her toes; these beasts were fast, wily creatures.  
“This room is even smaller than the last one. Just great.” Rehtaeh realized then that Paris was claustrophobic. He was trapped in a small space with ten other people and monsters at the gate. The poor man must be going out of his mind. She met Riddick’s eyes. The man was going to get people killed. Riddick picked up the cutting torch and used the man’s lighter to ignite it, startling the man even further. Then he turned and started cutting through one of the walls. Rehtaeh knew exactly how the Merchant was feeling. Rehtaeh could sense the others around her. Everyone was too close, practically on top of each other, on top of her. She felt a shiver brush over her as Mac stepped up beside her. She felt completely frozen and couldn’t wait until Riddick got that hole cut open. He was moving quickly, but she was ready to bolt. If she weren't careful, she would be as much of a detriment as Paris.  
“How you doin’ kid?” Mac asked her quietly. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes.  
“My skin is crawling, I feel chilled to the bone, and I am ready to jump through the roof.” She whispered back, her eyes watching Riddick. “Overall not my best moment. We need to find a place to come up with a plan. Sitting here in the dark, with no food or water, is gonna lead to our deaths. And those things will find a way in eventually. We need a way to get back to that skiff.”  
Riddick kicked the panel open and went through; Rehtaeh was shortly behind him, with Mac behind her. Once everyone was through they started covering the opening, creating a buffer between them and the other room. Carolyn took the torch from Riddick and went to the next wall. Riddick went further into the large cargo area to look around, everyone started to spread out, as much as Rehtaeh was relieved about this she knew that it was a bad idea. They really needed to stick together, or people were going to start dying.  
She could hear the beasts out there, and she thought of Riddick with only a shiv for a weapon, she motioned for Mac to stay back with the group and headed out. She raised the gun to chest level, made sure the safety off. She started doing a perimeter check, she came around a corner where there were massive crates stacked on each other.  
Hassan was right in front of her and heard Riddick say, “Extremely bad timing.”  
Hassan was standing just in front of Riddick his eye wide with terror. Maybe a foot separated them. “Just don’t run.” He advised them. Rehtaeh could feel three beasts; each one was on a crate above them making a corresponding unit around their little trio. She heard one of the beasts push out its sharp stamen blade quietly in the darkness. There was one on the crate above Riddick another on the stack of boxes to the left of him and she could feel the one on the crates behind her. There was fourth further off down the aisle taking chunks of another beast in the darkness.  
“Riddick? Rehtaeh?” Carolyn called out to them.  
“Don’t. Stop. Burning.” He called back to her.  
“Hassan! Where’s Hassan?” Imam asked it was déjà vu, just like Ali. There was no way in hell she would allow that to happen again. No more children were going to die this night. She would do everything she could to make sure of it.  
“Riddick, take the kid. Get him outta here.” She whispered. Meeting his eyes, she could tell he was about to argue with her, the beast above his head was about to attack. It’s serrated bone blade inching out of the center of its clawed foot. “I will cover you. On one, two. Three!”  
She blasted the monster above his head, its belly bursting above and behind him as he pushed the kid in the direction of the others, prodding him to move and move fast. Her arm swung left to take out the one that had been above Hassan just as the pair passed underneath. It’s coiling tail just missing the back of Riddick’s neck. More blue blood splattered over the crates raining down on them.  
She felt the third one above her, its blade swept out and she rolled out of the way just as it brushed past her shoulder, rending the fabric of her t-shirt. She rolled onto her back as it flew down from its perch, it stalked toward her she waited until it was straddled on top of her, its maw going for her belly. She blasted it in the mouth taking out its brain, blue blood splattered on the crates behind it. Jumping back up she scrambled to catch up with Riddick and Hassan as they sprinted back to the others as fast as their feet could carry them. She was just behind them, she could feel the fourth come in for the kill. A flashlight swept in their direction, blinding Riddick causing him to stumble and dive. She did the same twisting on her back so she could take a shot at the beast as it came in for the kill. She heard Johns take shots over her head at the same beast.  
There was a pause and silence. She could feel the life source fading from the beast above her and was starting to sit up when it fell from the rafters, landing right on top of her knocking her back onto the floor. It's blue blood coating her skin and hair. Everyone let out a collective scream, except for her. It had knocked the air out of her lungs. Her ribs were again taking the brunt of all of the damage. It took her a long moment to catch a breath, she tried to move it, making its paw twitch. There were more shrieks at the movement.  
“Is it dead?” Carolyn asked from somewhere above her  
“Rehtaeh!” Jack cried out to her. Rehtaeh heard Johns reload his shotgun and heard the click as he was about to pull the trigger on it again. “Where is Rehtaeh?  
“Get this – thing – off of me!” Rehtaeh growled, pushing up on the massive dead weight. Suddenly the weight was gone and she rolled out from under it and pushed herself to her feet. She wiped the blood off her gun with her pants and tucked it back into her waistband then moved away from the light to lean against a wall, taking several deep breaths for just a moment. She moved farther away from the group since they were busy inspecting the beast, noticing that their light was actually causing physical damage to the monster. Carolyn and Shazza had gotten through another portion of the ship and everyone headed in that direction. She followed at the rear, trying to clean the blood off of her face and hair.  
“Anyone want a Bio-raptor blood bath? I hear they are all the rage.” She asked as everyone turned to her and the light hit her face, then she deadpanned. “Supposedly it’s great for the complexion.”  
She pulled her hand down the right side of her face, the blood collecting in her hand before she flicked it to the floor where is splatted with great gory effect. Then she did the same with the left, flicking the blood away from her body. “What do you think? Any improvement?”  
“Beautiful,” Riddick said mockingly.  
“Awe, thanks, honey, nice of you to say so.” She shot back sarcastically as she ran her hand through her hair trying to pull more of the goop out of her silver-blonde locks. She flicked her hand again, blood splattering all over his pants and boots. His eyebrow quirked in annoyance, she grinned up at him, it was the first genuine smile she had made in years. “Sorry, I just had to share.”


	12. Riddick

Chapter 12  
Riddick  
They were sitting in a smaller room, filled with cargo, they had blocked all the obvious entry points with whatever materials they could find. Carolyn was pacing the room trying to come up with some sort of plan. He was sitting beside Mac and Shazza, Rehtaeh was against the back wall, as far away from all of them as she could get. As far away from him, as she could get without making it obvious that she was avoiding him. When she had joked with him earlier, he had been surprised by her odd sense of humor, but when she had smiled at him. It damn near blew him away. She was a very pretty woman, but when she smiled, hell, she became drop dead stunning. Even with the blood of the creature all over her, she was gorgeous. Right now, she just seemed to be her usual sullen self, watching the others and listening, like she usually did.  
“So we got one cutting torch, we got two hand lights, there’s gotta be something we can rip out of the crashed ship.” Carolyn started an inventory of the supplies that could get them to the safety of the skiff. Ever since they found out that the beasts were burned by the light, they had grabbed on to the idea that the lights could keep them safe, and everyone would make it back. Maybe in a perfect world, but in his experience there was no fairness in this world and several of these people were going to die. The only one he cared about surviving was himself, everyone else was secondary, and he would only help those who could help themselves. He was no hero. He wasn’t interested in making the sacrifice play.  
“Spirits, anything over forty-five proof burns rather well,” Paris told them offering up his alcohol to the pool of material. That was a surprise; the man had been hoarding the stuff all day fervently trying to protect it from everyone.  
“How many bottles you got?” Carolyn asked him trying to gauge how much light it would provide if it were worth the risk. The whole topic was boring as hell for him. The only thing holding him here was Johns and his shotgun. He would have been out of here hours ago if it had not been for the Merc holding him back.  
“I don’t know, maybe ten,” Paris told her.  
“Kay, Johns you got some flares.” Carolyn continued. Riddick could see her mind working behind her eyes, trying to come up with a viable plan. “So, maybe we have enough light.”  
“Enough light for fuckin’ what?” Johns asks, he sounded somewhat hostile. His last dose must be wearing off, he seemed very on edge. He looked at the others, they were watching and listening intently to the two arguing. Rehtaeh was looking from one to the other, her eyes following the conversation. She seemed amused and annoyed by their bickering, at one point rolling her eyes in irritation. Riddick just smirked. This little family was starting to pull apart, just like he knew it would.  
“We stick to the plan. We get the four cells back to the skiff. We’re off this rock.” Carolyn told him, she really wanted outta here. She was willing to just about anything, Riddick wholeheartedly agreed.  
“Look I hate to ruin a beautiful theory with an ugly fact, but that sand cat is solar,” Paris said walking to the other side of the group. “It won’t run at night.”  
“So we carry the cells. We drag them, whatever it takes.” Carolyn told them.  
“Shazza,” Rehtaeh whispered, she had moved so swiftly, so silently he had not noticed her movement until she was crouched right behind Shazza, pulling her aside. The dark haired woman had stayed silent throughout the exchange; she turned towards the younger girl and looked at her questioningly. “The sand cat, is it solar as in needs ultra-violet light? Or solar as in just needs a light source?”  
“Needs a light source,” Shazza whispered back. “Why, what are you thinking?”  
Rehtaeh sat down with her back to Shazza put up her index finger indicating to give her just a moment and sat back thinking. Riddick could see her mind working. She was as Mac said; too damn smart for her own good. He turned back to listen to the continued flow of the conversation and waited for Rehtaeh to come back with her idea. Shazza turned away from the group completely to watch as Rehtaeh started to draw something out in the dust on the floor with her finger. It was making a soft scraping noise as her nail scraped against the metal underneath. She whispered suggestions over Rehtaeh’s shoulder, and the younger woman would make the fix.  
“You mean tonight?” Jack’s voice nearly squeaked in fear as she asked the question, rocking herself back and forth. “With those things still out there?”  
“Hold on now, how long can this last? A few hours? A day tops?” Johns asks, he was obviously loath to go back out there into the darkness. Riddick wondered just how long it would take before he turned on everyone. Johns turned to Rehtaeh and Shazza and yelled at them. “Hey, Can you two shut it? We are trying to come up with a plan here. If you can’t help, stay silent.”  
Shazza looked up over her shoulder and glared at him before she looked at Rehtaeh who ignored the man completely and continued what she was doing. Her finger still scraping on the floor, she had her legs spread in a wide V and she was covering the majority of her work with her body as she worked on it. He couldn’t see a thing. Shazza went back to helping Rehtaeh as they discussed positioning and schematics.  
“I had the impression from the model,” Imam said rolling his prayer beads in his hands, his boys were sitting on each side of him, looking at him expectantly. “The two planets were moving as one, and there would be a lasting darkness.”  
“Hmm, these suns gotta come up sometime.” Johns continued as though Imam had not said a word, as though the light would last that long, and they wouldn’t starve to death in the meantime. “And if these creatures are phobic about light then we just sit tight. And we let the sun come up.”  
“I am sure someone else said that,” Carolyn glared at him, not wanting to give up on that skiff. Her fear had spiked considerably, and she obviously didn’t like feeling like a sitting duck inside the tin can cargo bay. “Locked inside that coring room.”  
“Would it be possible to rig something up around the light collector? Like those light tubes from the ship?” Rehtaeh whispered to Shazza, she obviously didn’t want to speak to the group until she had formulated a complete plan. “If we coil them around the dome, would that be enough light?”  
“It might very well work. Depending on if any of the light generators are still working.” Shazza nodded as she started to see Rehtaeh’s plan coming together. “The cat might be slower, but it would go.”  
“We need to think about everybody now, especially the kid,” Johns said looking from Carolyn to Jack. “How scared is this boy gonna be out there in the dark.”  
“Don’t use him like that,” Carolyn defended Jack, it was bad enough that the kid was scared, but bringing attention to it was just going to make the situation worse. Yup, their psycho-fuck family was preparing for a teardown. Shazza and Rehtaeh were discussing power sources and viability as well as stability.  
“Like what?” Johns asked innocently. It was like he was trying to get people onto his side.  
“A smoke screen.” Carolyn was becoming outright feisty, she really wanted to get the hell out of there. “You deal with your own fear.”  
“Why don’t you shut your fucking mouth for two seconds and let me come up with a plan that doesn’t include mass suicide.” Johns snapped back at her, sitting back to try and think.  
“Hey, Carolyn do those blue running lights on the ship have their own power source?” Rehtaeh stretched back craning her head to look between him and Shazza. She continued to ignore him as she waited for Carolyn to answer her. Riddick looked down, she had drawn a detailed blueprint of the sand cat, and he wondered what she was thinking of.  
“Yeah, they can be pulled out as a unit. Why?” Carolyn asked her. “You got a plan to get us out of here?”  
“Workin’ on it,” Rehtaeh told her, as she held up her hand in a stop motion and turned back to her drawing. She and Shazza voices dropped into a whispered discussion on what would work best.  
“I’m waiting.” Carolyn turned back and taunted Johns, who sat there in silence looking up at Carolyn, his face grim.  
“How much you weigh Johns?” Carolyn was starting to get in his face. Riddick watched as the exchange suddenly turned downright hostile.  
“What’s it matter, Carolyn?” Johns asked cockily.  
“How much?” Carolyn growled at him.  
“Around seventy-nine kilos to be exact,” Johns smirked up at her.  
“Cause you’re seventy-nine kilos of gutless white meat, that’s why you can’t come up with a better plan.” The snapping comeback was a blow that Johns had not been expecting from Carolyn.  
“Is that Right?” Johns stood up pulling his gun up, ready to threaten Carolyn with the large weapon. He, who had not even said a word through the entire exchange, stood in defense of Carolyn, blocking Johns. The gun moved to just under Riddick’s chin. He heard Rehtaeh’s heart miss a beat or two as she watched her eyes shining wide in the darkness. “Where do you think you’re going?”  
“This solves nothing!” Imam said to no one in particular, he was right though. There were too many roosters in this hen house. Riddick started tapping the shiv he had already grabbed and watched as every eye in the room moved swiftly to the source. Riddick’s shiv was at the ready, with one quick twitch of his wrist he could take out the other man’s femoral artery. Johns choked down his response and went back to his seat.  
“Why don’t you people shut it, Rehtaeh may have come up with a better plan,” Mac told them, glaring directly at Johns. Rehtaeh looked at Mac her eyebrow quirked. “You might as well tell them your idea now before they tear each other apart.”  
Riddick watched as all eyes turned to her, waiting expectantly, he watched her carefully. She shrugged and took a deep breath and looked at Johns and Carolyn, who were the leaders of the group meeting their eyes. “Okey-doke. The plan is relatively simple. We use the sand cat.” Paris and Carolyn made to argue with her and she held up her hand. “Hear me out. Shazza says that the sand cat just needs a source of constant light to work. If we can use the tube lights from the crash ship and coil them around the dome, it will provide enough power to make the cat go. It may not be as fast as it would be in full daylight, but it would work.”  
“Any extra lights we can find we can coil around the hoist and around the bed of the cat. That will create a safe zone for us to stay in.” She spoke slowly and clearly, yet not allowing any time for them to argue with her. “There are no headlights, and nothing powerful enough that would work. So Riddick or I would have to be your eyes. I am going to suggest Riddick if he is willing because he sees better in the dark than I do, and I admit to being a crappy navigator.”  
She met his eyes for one small moment, she was lying, but Johns was not going to let him take a weapon of any kind, so he might as well be the eyes of the group. He didn’t like being put in this position, but at least she had asked if he was willing. Her comment about navigation was a complete lie too, her heart rate spiked and she fidgeted just enough to give her away. She wanted him up front, why? He nodded to her, imperceptibly, but she noticed and continued with her plan.  
“I will take security detail, in the back of the cat; I can sense these creatures if they come too close and I have great aim. Mac, that means I am going to need all the ammo you got in your supply. If everyone does their part and stays in the light, we will make it through.” She finished, looking at each and every one of their little group. “We take all the light sources already discussed. If something goes wrong, I do not want to be sitting out there with nothing between me and them.”  
“You are already planning for if something goes wrong?” Johns sneered at her from his spot on the other side of the room.  
“Only stupid people walk into danger without a plan ‘B.' I am a practical woman Johns, smart enough to know that shit may happen whenever it wants to happen.” Rehtaeh glared back at him, she was calling him stupid right to his face. He couldn’t help the smirk that crossed his face before he forced it away. She was right, for every plan there should be a contingency plan to back it up. “So? You all in, or what? We can’t sit here all night. We will starve to death before the sun comes up unless those raptors get to us first.”  
They gathered what they needed from the cargo hold and made their way carefully back toward the main doors. Mac handed Rehtaeh his duty belt which holstered his other gun and all of his ammunition. He watched her as she double wrapped the heavy gear around her narrow waist. She now had ten full clips at her disposal not including what was remaining in the guns. He stayed by Carolyn as they opened the heavy doors and using the cutting torch to light the way outside. He moved out front skirting the darkness, Rehtaeh followed him both guns raised and ready. She had been a quick shot when in the belly of the cargo bay. She had killed all three of the beasts that had surrounded them in quick succession, so he knew her aim with the one hand was good. He wondered about her other one.  
He stayed just ahead of the group as they made their way. From where he was, there was too much light. He walked further ahead trying to keep ahead of the light so he could look around in the darkness. The beasts were everywhere and on everything. They were just staying out of the light. Rehtaeh slipped past him her guns raised and ready. She was risking her lovely neck by being this far into the shadows and yet she seemed at ease in the darkness. He moved past her trying get past the radius of light so he could see better. They moved quickly toward the wreck, Rehtaeh stayed close on his tail, covering his back. As they approached it, the realization hit him that it was a hulking mass of shadows just sitting there, dark and menacing, full of holes and hiding spaces for the bio-raptors. There was too much debris in the way to get a clear view inside.  
“If there are any in there, they are too far away, I can’t feel them,” Rehtaeh whispered to him. She was looking into the wreckage. Her eyes open wide, her guns ready, and she was on high alert. He had worked beside fully trained soldiers less skilled than her. He was impressed by her animalistic grace, and her silent footfalls, it was as though she was prowling the night for her prey. She moved forward slowly, crouching lower and lower, as though ready to pounce and he realized she was on a hunt.  
Riddick moved up and took off his goggles, peering into the darkness, he couldn’t see much beyond the array of tubes, wires, debris and wreckage blocking the entry way. “Looks clear” he called back.  
“Wait!” Rehtaeh called harshly as Johns moved forward with his shotgun, he ignored her trying once again to be the hot shot cop. He moved right up close when suddenly a beast flew out of the wreck right at him. It screeched loudly, angry that it had missed its dinner. He ducked just in time, Rehtaeh growled in frustration. The creature had moved so quickly and she had been the one to give a warning.  
“You said ‘Clear’!” Johns yelled at him, angry that he had been so spooked.  
“I said it ‘Looks clear’.” Riddick reminded him. Hell, he was not infallible.  
“Well, what’s it look like now?” Johns asked, his heart was racing, having damn near pissed himself earlier. Riddick shook his head, the man was going to be trouble, and it was just a matter of when.  
“Looks clear,” Riddick said after taking another look over the rubble, he was rewarded with a glare from Johns and a Cheshire grin from Rehtaeh. When she caught his glance the smile drifted away, and she bit her lip and looked away.  
“I told you to wait, dumb ass.” She said under her breath as she passed Johns. The Merc looked up and glared at her. Riddick watched her as she moved ahead, sweeping for raptors as she entered the ship. He took one-half, she took the other. There were no more Bio-Raptors in the wreckage and he started turning on light panels as he went so the others could join them. When they met back in the central area, she nodded to him indicating that they were good and he signaled to Johns. Everyone moved in. Imam, Paris and the boys were working on making lanterns out of the liquor bottles. Shazza and Jack started tearing apart the tube lights after finding that the light generators were still working, and then hauled them to the sand cat. Shazza was setting up the coils around the dome, Jack assisting her. Carolyn was gathering more supplies and giving orders, the moment Rehtaeh had offered her idea the young docking pilot had jumped on board taking over the command of the operation.  
“Since I will be out front on that beast, I want the light on my back, not in my eyes. You keep everyone in the cat.” Riddick told Carolyn and Shazza, “If anyone makes themselves a target, I won’t be jumping in to help. The cat moves forward unless I say stop.” He passed Jack and added loudly just for her. “And check your cuts, they know our blood now.”  
Rehtaeh was inside pulling out more cables for the back of the cat. She was alone. Her section of the ship was in near perfect darkness. Her glasses were up in her hair, having no need for them in the darkness. Her guns had been holstered and she was stretching both arms over her head to access the heavy cords they would use to secure the lights. Riddick moved quickly, silently and still she spun at him her hands raised in a defensive move. She backed away warily and snarled, “Back off Riddick, I don’t know what game you’re playing but I don’t need the distraction.”  
He advanced on her and she backed away, she was trying her damnedest to keep her distance from him, for every step he took towards her, she took one back. Her hands stayed up, ready to hit him at any time. He was toying with her, stalking her until her left foot ran into the wall behind her. Like an animal backed into a corner, she went on the attack. She kicked at him with her left foot and he blocked her easily, she struck out at him with her right hand, but he caught her wrist and pulled it up. Her left fist grazed his chin before he caught it and pinned both wrists together above her head. She lashed out with her feet and knees as she struggled against him. She was the complete opposite of the willing victim he had found in the settlement.  
“Let me go, you jerk!” She spat at him. Growling, snarling and hissing at him, like a caged animal she was trying her damnedest to fight him off. He moved both her wrists to one hand and lifting her inches off the ground before he moved in and pinned her legs with his thighs. He pulled her guns out of their holsters setting them on a rail behind him, out of her reach, and then he grabbed the blade out of her boot. It was a well-made knife, beautifully balanced. He brought it up to her throat, and she stilled. He had completely disarmed her.  
“What do you want, Riddick?” She hissed angrily, her eyes were narrowed. Somehow she had decided that she was not going to let their compatibility dictate her feelings for him, so she had started distancing herself from him. Ever since her walk in the desert and her forced ride on his lap in the sand cat she had been even more erratic around him than before. From keeping a personal distance from him to hauling him close to her after he had carried her into the cargo hold. She had covered him and the kid in the cargo bay, but he was certain that she had only done that for the kid. Then she had gone from flirting heavily to basically ignoring him when they had come up with a plan. She worked hand in hand with him just moments before and now she was trying to brush him off again. It was like she was trying to convince herself to stay away from him, her uncertainty was obvious.  
“I am compatible with you.” It was a statement, he wasn’t asking he already knew that as a fact. He wanted to know how he was different from the few that she had been compatible with. She still did not smell like fear, even though he had her at knifepoint, he wondered what it would take to make her fear him. He pulled the blade lower and lower, over her collarbone and along it to the dip at the base of her throat, then down her sternum to the top of her thin t-shirt. Then he let the razor edge of the knife rend the fabric, exposing more and more of her silky white flesh. He stopped just above her breasts, he held the knife there for a long moment, admiring the silver sheen against her pale creamy flesh.  
She shook her head in denial, her eyes were wide, shining brightly in the darkness and her struggle renewed. She ignored the knife on her chest and tried to kick at him. He used the tip of the knife and placed it just under the tip of her chin, forcing her head back so he could look her in her eyes. He growled at her, warning her to tell him the truth. She looked up at him meeting his bared eyes. In the darkness, he saw that the shiny silver pupils had come to life within their rings of purple. In them, he saw the instant that she surrendered. She calmed almost instantly, her muscles relaxed. What the hell? Her voice, when she spoke, was soft, “It’s different than the others. Better.”  
“What does it feel like when I touch you, Rehtaeh?” He asked her, he put the knife in the waistband of his pants and returned his hand to the newly made rip in the fabric, letting his fingers brush over the soft flesh awaiting him there. She gasped at his intimate touch and shook her head. Her silver blonde hair had been matted back away from her face, the blue blood staining her skin. She whimpered, so quietly, there was a new scent, to go along with the normal one of confusion and bewilderment. Frustration? No, it was indecision. He picked her up by her ass and pressed her against him, her eyes widened in response. He heard her breath hitch in her throat. He released her wrists and pulled her legs around him, as he let her shoulders lean on the wall behind her. “Answer me Rehtaeh.” His voice was low and gravelly, a warning.  
“Hot, like fire.” She gasped, as he ground himself against her. He could almost taste her confusion, disorientation, frustration, anger, but he still didn’t smell arousal or fear from her, so what would it take? He heard her insecurity as she answered him, “When you are close, I feel warm. But touch is hot.”  
He took her mouth then; it was not a soft, fleeting thing. No, he took her mouth and claimed it as his. Crushing his lips against hers, his tongue stroking her bottom lip, when she didn’t offer entry, he nipped her bottom lip and she gasped. Her arms circled his neck, her hands clinging to him and he knew he had her. His tongue explored her mouth, testing her sharp teeth, memorizing every niche, and stroking against her tongue. Hers met his in a small battle. He tutored her with his mouth. What he wanted from her, how he wanted her to kiss him back, he taught her what he wanted her to know. Their tongues battled for dominance. Finally, he pulled away, biting her lip. She moaned against him, and she arched in surprise. There it was; passion, desire, lust. Her arousal was a sharp, sweet, full bodied smell. Awakened with a kiss.  
“And now? What does my touch feel like now?” Riddick teased her, trailing his nose and chin down her neck.  
“Riddick.” She growled at him, she was panting, shaking, shivering. Her legs tightened instinctually around him, holding him to her. She was intoxicating. He could bury himself in that but now was not the time. “Why are you doing this to me?”  
“Answer my question, Rehtaeh.” He growled back, he put a warning into his voice. He would get what he wanted. He kneaded her ass with one hand as he rubbed his erection against her. She moaned and arched against him. He kissed her again, catching her moans in his mouth. As much as he wanted her, he wasn’t interested in capturing the attention of the others as he played with her.  
“Searing. Burning all over, it’s good, amazing.” She choked out grudgingly when he released her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment before looking back up at him, almost as though she were admitting some small defeat. “I want more.”  
“Hmmm, we don’t have time for that, sweetheart.” He chuckled darkly, releasing her, she stumbled back, sagging against the wall behind her. “Maybe some other time.”  
He walked away, laughing as she groaned in distress at his sudden abandonment. “Fuck you, Riddick.” She whispered into the darkness.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13  
Rehtaeh  
After Riddick disappeared, Rehtaeh gathered the cords she collected and took them out to Shazza so she could start strapping things down. Then she went to work pulling another light generator to string along the body of the machine. By the time she hauled the second light generator to the sand cat, Shazza and Jack had already set up the first one beside the dome, wrapping it in the coils. A bright blue light started to charge the cat back up and Shazza had to make a jump to the driver’s seat to engage the brake. She hauled the second generator onto the back of the cat where she and Mac wrapped the lights around the hoist and its arm, as well as draping the sides of the machine in lights. It was well lit. Riddick was nowhere around and that was fine with her. The asshole could leave her the hell alone and stop toying with her.  
Rehtaeh ordered Hassan & Suleiman to grab the excess cables and ropes she had gathered, just in case, coiling them into the back of the cat. Paris made lanterns out of his alcohol bottles, using thick pieces of rope as wicks and some other parts of the ship. Everything got stockpiled into the sand cat now rigged with lights and they were ready to go. They just needed to gather the people. Imam, Paris and Jack stood beside Carolyn in the entrance to the wreckage looking at Rehtaeh and the illuminated sand cat.  
“Are you certain this will work? That you can get us there?” Imam asked Fry.  
“No, I can’t, but they can.” Fry responded. Rehtaeh looked up at her in surprise. The young captain was looking up at Riddick, who had just joined them from the interior of the ship. Rehtaeh shot him a dirty look and turned back to Mac, only keeping a half an ear out for their conversation.   
“Are we really going to do this thing?” Paris asked.  
“All we have to do is stick together, stay in the light and keep moving forward,” Carolyn told them, and then she went in search of Johns so they could get moving. Rehtaeh figured that Johns had gone off to get high again. He was moody and erratic.   
“Mac how’s your shoulder?” Rehtaeh looked at her guard. She had been a bit of a bitch to him today. She liked him as a person, he was a really great guy, and yet she had turned on him. She would have beaten the shit out of him if Riddick hadn’t stepped in, regardless of the fact that both of them were injured. Then she had ditched him at the base to walk back to the crash site. She felt horrible for her behavior.  
“It’s good, healing, it stopped bleeding hours ago.” He looked over at her. Something in her face must have given her away. “You did an excellent job wrapping it up, so stop worrying. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”  
“I have plenty to feel guilty about, Mac.” Rehtaeh scoffed, she ran her hands through her matted hair, and when she had it separated, she braided it as tightly as she could, fastening it with her headband. “Why couldn’t I have been the normal one? Why was I the one born a freak? It would make life a helluva lot easier.”  
“Easier, but less interesting, I bet.” Mac looked at her, his eyes hard with some truth he wanted to share. “Look, I have read your file. You really have nothing to be guilty about. They owe you a new life, you have been used over and over again, they sidelined you for centuries, don’t let this take you out of the game altogether. You do whatever you have to do to get off this rock.”  
“I don’t know what I’m doing, Mac, I have been all over the map for weeks, trying to regain myself.” She growled at him, her voice dropped to a whisper. “And just when I think I have it all figured out he comes along and throws me into a complete tailspin! I can barely function when he is around. Maybe if I were normal, I could have loved you instead of-.”  
“I like the man, but I hate to say it, Riddick has been playing with you all day. Don’t you think it’s time to play back? You were always the competitive one. Your brothers could never beat you, what makes him so special?” Mac told her, his words sparked something in her. He was right. Why the hell was she allowing Riddick to make up the rules of this game? He could play his, and she would play along, but it was time to start playing with her own rules. She sighed and smiled softly up at him, this man that she called a friend.  
“Help me rig up some climbing lines. I want to be able to move from one end of this beast to the other with ease.” Rehtaeh looked at Mac, her lips curled up in determination. Within minutes, they had lines going from each corner of the cat tied up to the hoist.   
She had the kids pile into the bottom of the sand cat with the power cells. Paris and Imam were just behind them. Mac and Johns were on either side of the light dome to make sure that the light coils stayed in place. Shazza was back at the wheel and Carolyn was beside her in the passenger seat. Riddick crouched on the hood of the cat in front holding onto the climbing line. Rehtaeh anchored herself on the hoist making herself as tall as possible and trying to keep her head above the barrier of light. She wanted to be able to use all of her senses for what was coming.   
The creatures were gathering around them, attracted to Mac’s shoulder, and Jack’s menses. Poor kid, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Rehtaeh listened for the beasts and concentrated on where everyone was.   
Shazza put the sand cat into gear and the vehicle jerked forward. Riddick started giving directions to the woman, ten degrees left, more left, adjust right. Rehtaeh tuned him out. She tuned out the others in the light as well. They were going to have to take care of themselves because not twenty feet out they had incoming.   
“Incoming, everyone stay down!” she called out as she took two shots to her left. She used her cables to move to the tail end to take out another one at the rear. There was a scream from Jack and Hassan as a serrated bone blade embedded itself into the side of the cat. Rehtaeh swung her right hand in that direction, destroying the beast as it was pulled by the metal machine. She leapt forward as another creature tried to snag Imam with its tail as it flew overhead, it took two shots to take that one down. She had both weapons out, she only fired at the ones that came within ten feet of the rolling cart, but within ten minutes she had emptied the first of the clips. She unclipped the belt and tossed it at Mac who pulled out a new clip then handed the gun to Johns saying, “Refill, and keep ‘em coming.”  
She heard him grunt in annoyance, yet the clip clicked into place he held it up for her and they exchanged weapons. They made the exchange twice more before she felt someone move below her. There was a rise in panic from their group as the bright orange light from the hand torch faded into nothingness leaving the blue lights from the tube lights. There was some shuffling around as someone tried to grab some of the torches.   
“Paris, save those for later,” Johns ordered the other man, but Paris was beginning to panic again. Rehtaeh could smell his fear. It exhilarated her as she readied for the attack. She was the hunter. She was behind Riddick on the hood of the vehicle as one ran at them out of the darkness, she dropped it fast and climbed back to the hoist as two more swooped down from above. There was a scuffle as Imam and Johns tried to take the extra lights from Paris causing one of the bottles to fall out of the back of the cat, smashing on the ground. Rehtaeh shot the spreading liquid to create a bomb on a beast that was approaching. She watched in fascination as it burst into flame and the creature lit up like a screaming torch as the flame touched it.   
“Look what you’ve done now, Paris!” Johns yelled at the skinny man, Paris jumped up, ready to argue with Johns.   
“Paris, stay down,” Imam ordered him, pulling the slender man back down into the light of the sand cat. Paris was freaked right out. He wanted nothing more to do with any of them as he tried to move away from Johns. His foot snagged in one of the light coils and he went down, he fell out of the bed of the sand cat and rolled, taking one strand of the lights with him. The monsters were on him immediately, they were a swarm of six or eight and Rehtaeh was emptying her gun trying to get the beasts off the man. Then one of the larger bio-raptors hooked him with his bone blade and took off with him into the air. The generator charging the lights went with him, the connection to the lights on the hoist was broken and the lights faded to darkness. Rehtaeh looked back and noticed that Paris’ legs and lower torso was being dragged like fish bait behind the vehicle.  
“Do I even wanna know?” Carolyn asked looking back. Rehtaeh shook her head slightly, her own stomach turning violently at the horrendous sight. Another clip down, she was too far away from Johns to make and exchange.  
“Mac, clip!” He tossed it up, she caught it and slammed it into place just in time to take out four more. They were coming in hot and heavy attracted to the body flailing behind the cat. The beasts kept jumping on the meat making the cat jerk back and forth a bit. Not being able to handle the obscene mess anymore Rehtaeh grabbed the knife out of Mac’s boot and sliced the coil of lights that was holding the offending body parts. She tucked the knife into her belt and grabbed her reloaded gun from Johns. She looked away from the gore as several beasts started to fight over the dead man’s legs; she fought back the bile that threatened to come up. Shaking it off, she went back to work shooting down the beasts as they were closing in on the sand cat.   
“Get some lights lit, damn it!” She yelled at the group as she took down two more. With the lights gone the beasts were closing in, she didn’t have enough hands or guns. She was killing monsters and reloading faster and faster until by her count she had three clips left. Imam, Jack, and Mac handed out some lights for use in the back of the sand cat, lighting a flare and two of the torches. The beasts shrieked in frustration at the sudden glare, but they kept coming closer, they were becoming much braver in the flickering light.  
Johns stood up on the other side of the hoist from her and readied his shotgun. He glared at her when she tried to protest and ordered. “I’ll take this side, you take that one.” She jumped between Mac and Imam using the rope to hold her balance, she holstered one of her weapons. This was a much less efficient way to go. But if they had no other choice then she would deal with it. It turned out she had no time to argue, there were more beasts circling closer and closer. She fired and fired, and when she ran out of ammo she handed the firearm off to Mac to reload. She could see the rise above them as they closed in on the approach to the canyon when Riddick called for a stop and the sand cat jerked to a halt.  
“What’s the problem?” Johns called out to the others. “Why have we stopped?”   
“Are we lost?” Imam asked next.  
“Listen,” Riddick growled.   
“Do you even know where we are?” Imam persisted.  
“Listen!” Riddick said louder. Rehtaeh used the ropes and moved gracefully to the front of the vehicle.   
“Shit.” She whispered looking out over the canyon rising before them. There were raptors lining the tops of the walls, sitting on the massive bones and attacking each other in every direction. She didn’t have near enough ammunition to get them through, “There are too many.”   
“Canyon ahead, I stopped us here to give us time to think,” Riddick told Johns.  
“We should continue on,” Johns said, “Just go right through. It’s been working for us so far.”  
“By my count Rehtaeh has only a half a clip left in the gun in her hand and a full clip in the other, Twenty-one rounds.” There were some scrambling noises at the back of the sand cat as a couple of flares slipped off the tailgate and into the sand. Hassan crawled over the power cells to pick them up when a beast coiled his tail around the boys’ throat and pulled up. Rehtaeh spun and shot the animal from the sky. Both boy and monster dropped to the ground. Dead. The poor kid’s neck had been broken. Riddick amended, “Make that twenty.”  
“Hassan!” Imam and Suleiman cried running for the boy, carrying one of the torches with them. Jack climbed out of the back of the cat into the darkness, picking up the flares and putting them back into the back of the cat. Her scent was attracting more of the monsters.   
“Jack, get the fuck back into the light,” Shazza yelled at the girl. There was a shriek as one of the bio-raptors dived for her, she rolled under the cat just in time as Johns pulled the trigger on his gun. In that one instant the sand cat died, the tube lights around it flickered obscenely as the generator started to give out, and Mac began to scream. Rehtaeh, turned to her friend, saw the monster and shot it in the neck. Threat destroyed, she moved to get to Mac. Johns had missed the beast entirely. Instead, he had taken out the solar dome and the generator, the debris from the blast had exploded into Mac’s abdomen like hundreds of tiny projectiles. Rehtaeh damn near vaulted around the hoist to get to Mac, trying to assess his wounds, but there was nothing she could do for him. He was basically eviscerated, slowly dying as the debris cut deeper and deeper into his flesh.   
“Give him some morphine, Johns!” Carolyn yelled from up front, jumping out of her seat and turning on Johns.   
“Why? He’s basically dead. There is nothing that can be done for him.” Johns yelled back lifting his gun toward her. Riddick grabbed the box of ammo from Johns before he could protest further and threw it to Carolyn. Johns turned the gun on Riddick with a snarl. Both men jumped off the sand cat, circling each other. Carolyn crawled to the back beside Mac and Rehtaeh and gave the dying a man a dose of morphine, not enough to kill him, but enough to ease the dying man’s pain.   
She closed the box, jumped off the cat and stepped in between Johns and Riddick. She met Johns’ eyes, shoved the box back into his hands and then looked pointedly at her and Mac in the back of the cat. “At least Mac can live his last moments, without such pain.”   
Rehtaeh sat beside Mac, she had become irrational as she felt the man’s life force start to fade away. She was trying to hold his body together, cutting her own hands in the process. “I am so sorry, Mac. I should have done better. I should have left for the cells sooner. If I had followed my instincts this would never have happened.”  
“Stop, Rehtaeh, stop,” Mac whispered he grabbed her hands, holding them still. “You did great. It was not your fault, you have been amazing. You were the best assignment I have ever had. Such a lovely girl.”  
His voice was fading, she could feel his presence receding in her amplified senses and Rehtaeh choked up, she was trying to help, trying not to cry. “No, Mac, no! Not you too. I already lost May! I can’t lose you too.”  
“I love you Rehtaeh,” Mac said, looking up at her, as her tears began to fall. “Be strong.”  
“Mac! No! No, no, no.” his hands relaxed and he let go of hers but Rehtaeh held on. She was on her knees, and her head was leaning on the dead man’s shoulders, sobbing in silence. She had liked the man, he had become like family over the last few weeks and months, as he and May had worked so hard to keep her alive, and for what? So they could both die on the same planet, trying to keep her worthless hide alive? Why? She was just the government’s puppet. Had always been a puppet. She had never had a chance to truly live.   
She took a deep breath. He had told her to be strong. So she would for him. It woke her back up and sparked something in her. Rage, rage at the Alliance for their manipulation of her and her family. Rage at the doctors and scientists who had defiled her body, for the sake of their experiments. Rage at Riddick for playing games with her. Rage at the beasts for being so bloody Merciless. Rage at Johns for his stupid selfishness, for his stupid trigger finger, and for being an all-around ass. She rose, turned slowly to see the people around her. Riddick was untying the ropes from the cat so they could use them to drag the power cells. He was tying each of them onto the end of a rope. Johns was in the middle of a heated conversation with Carolyn. Her vision narrowed on the Merc. The man who had callously killed her only friend, the man who would never have willingly shared the medication that had helped ease Mac’s passing.  
She climbed onto the edge of the cat, hiding her intentions by holding onto the large rig beside her. She crouched low and got ready to pounce. No one saw it coming, not even Johns. She landed on top of him, pile driving him into the ground beside Caroline. Caroline screamed and jumped out of the way. Rehtaeh used every muscle she had and all of the adrenaline pumping through her body to pin the larger man.   
“You killed him! You trigger happy Merc! You selfish asshole!” She hit him hard, her right fist connecting with his jaw, his face snapped to the left. Without hesitation, she hit him again with her other fist snapping his head back in the opposite direction. His nose spurted blood as it crunched under the force of her hit. She wound back to hit him again when she was unceremoniously hauled off of the man.   
She screamed in rage and struggled against the arms holding her back. Johns rolled and jumped to his feet and came at her. “You broke my nose you fucking bitch!”  
“You killed my friend, you fucking asstard!” She yelled back, pushing against the arms that circled her chest and waist. Carolyn and Imam pushed Johns away from her as she was lifted and spun away from the murderer Merc. She screamed in rage, “Let me go! Let me at him! I want him dead!”  
“Rehtaeh, enough! His time will come, soon.” Riddick’s voice whispered in her ear, his arms tightened around her chest and waist, reminding her of the pain from her injured ribs and making it impossible to breathe. He adjusted his arms to force her head against his chest, she could hear his heartbeat and anchored herself to it, she let the steady drum of his heart calm her slightly. She stopped fighting him and forced herself to relax against him. He eased the tension in his arms and held her like that for several minutes before he turned her towards him. He put both hands on her face and forced her to look at him. His goggles were on his forehead and she could meet his eyes, those eyes were hypnotizing, she felt a soothing calm whisper over her.   
She looked at him, her eyes steady, the rage had ebbed, but traces of anger still raced through her, “Soon?”  
“Soon.” Riddick met her gaze; she could see the promise in his eyes and hear it in his voice.  
“I am holding you to that, Riddick.” She said and she stalked away climbing back into the sand cat to help gather the supplies they would need to continue to the skiff. She gathered all of the remaining flares and the last few unlit torches, and then she started handing them out to each person. Shazza had jumped out of the cat to pull Jack out from under the vehicle and was consoling her. Imam and Suleiman had finished praying over Hassan’s body and rejoined the group.   
Once Riddick had each of the cells tied to a rope, Rehtaeh took one. She coiled the rope and made loops then she twisted the loop in half and put one arm into each loop, pulling the power cell onto her back, like a backpack. Her ribs were screaming under the weight, but there was no way in hell she was going to give in. Riddick quirked an eyebrow at her and she just looked back at him. Her body might be enraptured by the man, but she had no reason to trust him. Mac had told her to stay strong and that was exactly what she was going to do. He was right, the con had been playing with her all day long. It was time to take the game to her level. She recoiled the extra cable that they had piled into the cat and called Jack over to her. “Jack, can you carry this? Is it light enough for you to carry?”  
“It’s heavy, but I can do it,” Jack swore to her. To prove she could, the girl slung it over her head so it hung off of her cross body.   
Rehtaeh smiled at the girl and told her, “Shit could get ugly at any moment, I want you by my side at all times. You do not take two steps away from me, no matter what happens. You hold our lanterns and I will keep us protected, do you read?”  
“Yes, ma’am.” Jack looked at her solemnly, her eyes wide.  
“Good,” Rehtaeh looked at her gently, “I swear I will do everything I can to get you out of here.”  
The group was spreading out around the sand cat, they needed to get away from the machine and soon. Hassan & Mac’s carcasses were already beginning to draw them closer and closer, with Jack’s menses, her cut up hands and John’s bloody nose, they had already gained too much attention.   
“I think we should go now,” Imam said looking blindly into the darkness.   
“I don’t know about that. It’s death row up there; especially with the girl bleeding.” Riddick told them.   
“What?” Imam asked in surprised confusion.  
“What are you talking about, her hands have already stopped bleeding,” Johns smirked looking directly at Rehtaeh. She glared back at him and the blood that was smeared on his face and hands. An evil thought took her as she realized that he now smelled like blood, he too was a walking target. She couldn’t help the smile that lifted the corners of her lips.  
“Not her,” Riddick said, his voice was somewhat cocky. He looked directly at Jack, “Her.”  
Jack stood there in shock and horror and fear, she looked ready to bolt. She pulled in quavering breath, trying not to cry. Rehtaeh moved right up behind her, put her arm around the younger girl’s waist ignoring the pain, she whispered in the girl’s ear, “I got you, I promised to protect you right? I meant it.”  
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Johns said his voice was sarcastic and hostile as he glared at the young girl.  
“I just thought it would be better if people took me for a guy. I thought they might leave me alone, instead of always messing with me.” Jack was shaking, and her voice changed into a whimpering thing as she tried to hold it all in. She dropped down into a sitting position holding her knees, it was a self-protective position. Rehtaeh knelt with her, the usual pain stabbed up her arm, but the girl needed her support, and damn it, she would do what she could. Shazza joined them.   
“Jesus, Jack! Why didn’t you tell me?” Carolyn yelled at her, then seeing the girl turn into a frightened child, she knelt beside her as well. “I’m sorry sweetheart. Are you really bleeding?”  
“I would have done the same thing, at your age,” Rehtaeh whispered, gently rubbing her back.  
“You could have left me at the ship, that’s why I didn’t say something sooner.” The kid whimpered quietly.   
Rehtaeh heard Riddick tell Imam, “They’ve been nose open for her ever since we left. In case you didn’t notice, they go off blood.”  
Then Carolyn did the exact opposite of what Rehtaeh thought she would do. She stood up and looked at the group and said, “Look this is not going to work. We’re gonna have to go back.”  
Johns turned around, looking over at the captain over his shoulder, “What’d you say?” He started stalking back toward Carolyn.  
She ignored their incessant arguing and turned back to Jack, who was still stifling her sobs, “Suck it up Buttercup. Let’s get a move on.”   
Jack looked at her with surprise not expecting such words. Shazza scowled at her thinking that she was about to turn on the girl like everyone else. She forced the girl to listen to her and not the argument going on around her. The last thing that they needed was to be sitting here in the darkness with monsters closing in. “Look, Jack, it’s going to be okay. I know this sucks, on top of everything else, but really, we can’t let it stop us from getting to the skiff. Remember the plan.”  
“The plan?” Shazza asked in confusion looking from Jack to Rehtaeh.  
“I hold the lanterns, you keep the beasts off my back,” Jack whispered up at Rehtaeh.  
“No matter what happens, we are going to get to that skiff,” Rehtaeh swore. The other conversation rose around them, drowning out their whispered exchange.  
“Listen to her? When she was so willing to sacrifice us all.” There were shocked gasps from everyone except Rehtaeh and Riddick, they exchanged a look. Rehtaeh had had her suspicions from the beginning; it was no surprise to her that the woman had wanted to save herself. The only thing that surprised her was that Johns knew about it. Jack stood back up and Rehtaeh moved away by about a foot keeping them from skin to skin contact, hiding her own sigh of relief.  
“What’s he talking about?” Shazza and Jack asked quietly, looking at the others.  
“This doesn’t help us!” Imam cried trying to get everyone to calm down.  
“During the crash she tried to blow the whole passenger cabin, tried to kill us in our sleep.” Johns kept going, he was deliberately trying to take all of Carolyn’s power away from her. Breaking her down piece by piece.   
“Shut your mouth!” Carolyn yelled at him, she was having a hard time listening to her faults her past mistakes. Over the course of the day she had made up for that error again and again, Rehtaeh wondered if everyone would remember that when the chips were all laid out.  
“We are fucking disposable. We’re just walking ghosts to you aren’t we.” Johns taunted her, pushing in the last nail in her coffin.  
“Shut your fucking blow hole!” Carolyn screamed launching herself at Johns. He used her momentum against her, hitting her and throwing her to the ground. She curled up, as though she was ready to just give up everything.  
“You made your point. We’ll all be scared.” Imam stepped up and glared at Johns.   
“Awe, Carolyn, how much do you weigh now,” Johns said with a grin looking down on Carolyn lying in the dirt. “Verdict’s in, the light moves forward.”   
He walked forward in the direction of the canyon. Rehtaeh watched him from the outskirts of the circle. ‘Soon,’ she whispered to herself, he promised her that it would happen soon. She gathered the ropes for the cells and gave one to Imam and Suleiman, she gave another to Carolyn and Shazza. And she pulled the third, picked up one of the lit torches and followed Johns and Riddick. She stretched out her senses in the silence. Feeling for the others and listening to the conversation being carried on in front of her.  
“Remember what I told you, Jack?” Rehtaeh looked at the kid as Jack moved to her side. “No matter what happens next, you do not leave my side.”


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14  
Riddick  
Riddick watched Rehtaeh for a long moment before following the Merc. She seemed to be holding it together pretty well after losing Mac just minutes before. She had channeled everything into her attack on Johns, now she just seemed sad, grieving for her friend. It reminded him of her temper tantrum on the ship weeks ago, she had freaked out, raged, mourned and then moved on in the span of a day. It seemed to be a coping mechanism for her. She would have killed the Merc without his intervention and as he followed the Merc, he wondered why he had stopped her.   
Johns was waiting for him about twenty feet in front of the rest of the group. Leaning on an outcropping of rock with his flare in hand, painting the surrounding landscape with light. He had a smirk on his face as though he was proud of what he accomplished. The man seemed to take great pride in pushing people to their limits. “Ain’t all of us gonna make it.”  
“You just realized that?” Riddick said as he walked by covering his eyes. According to his odds, they would lose at least three more before they got off this rock. And that was just after losing three in quick succession. If he had been asked, Mac would have been one of the few to make it to the skiff. Johns’ touchy finger had changed those odds.   
“Eight of us left. If we could make it through the canyon and lose just one; that would be quite a feat, huh?” Johns continued, Riddick realized exactly where Johns was going with this, but just how far was he willing to take it? His bet was the Merc would try to pick off the weakest; Jack for sure would be on his list, he was certain that Carolyn and Rehtaeh both ranked pretty high as well. They had both taken shots at the Merc recently, making them obvious targets.  
“Not if I’m the one,” Riddick told him, this was obvious. Johns was not going to leave him behind, he was too valuable as a prize. He was just playing along with the Merc, he wanted to hear it. He wanted the Merc to admit what he wanted from Riddick.   
“Well, what if you’re one of seven?” Johns asked him, he turned in fear at a noise he heard in the darkness. Riddick didn’t even flinch when the beast took off from the ground on their right, having been spooked by the light from Johns flare. “Maybe even six?”  
While Johns was distracted, Riddick responded, “I’m listening.”He could hear the group behind them asking what was going on, and why they were so far ahead.   
“Battlefield doctors decide who lives and dies. It’s called triage.” Johns told him, as though he was teaching Riddick something new. The Merc was as dumb as the rest, Riddick had been military once, he knew exactly what triage was.   
“Kept callin’ it murder when I did it.” He retorted. Johns could call it triage, self-defense, friendly fire, an accident and as long it was the Merc doing the killing; it would be accepted. The moment Riddick did the killing it was immediately called murder.  
“Either way I figure it’s something you can grab onto,” Johns said, as though he was stupid or something, really, the man should know better by now.  
“Sacrifice play. Hack up a body at the start of the canyon. Drag it behind us like a bucket of bait?” Riddick sketched out a plan for Johns, it was a quick and messy plan. Dirty and cold. It reminded him of Paris’s demise and the look on Rehtaeh’s face. He hadn’t seen what had happened behind the cat, not with all the light and the fact that he had been watching where they had been going, but he had heard it all. A single glance at the horror and disgust on Rehtaeh’s expressive face was all he needed to know.   
Johns took over the plan, filling it in, “Trawl with it. We drag the body forty fifty feet behind us. We got extra cable, Rehtaeh has the kid hauling it; a real piece of work ain’t she? I’d love to get me some of that.”   
“Nice embellishment.” Riddick drawled, the man truly was sick in the head to even suggest it. And to throw in Rehtaeh in the middle of it, very twisted. “Didn’t we already do that with Paris?”  
“He was too close to the sand cat; if he had been a bit further away it would have worked better. Look I don’t wanna feed ‘em, just keep ‘em off our sun.” Johns continued.   
“So which one caught your eye?” Riddick made to look back at the group, spying the young woman, dragging a cell behind her, no wonder she was breathing so hard. She was hauling seventy kilos by herself. She met his eyes through the darkness and he knew that she was listening to every word they said. Good, he had a witness for once.  
“No don’t look! Christ! What the hell’s wrong with you?” Johns scolded him, as though they were talking about some silly prank. “Well you could off Rehtaeh, we could each take a turn before you do her. It would be a waste not to have a taste beforehand.” The Merc was cold, but Riddick already knew that. “Or you could do the kid, both of them are already bleeding. Carolyn would be fine with me as well, woman’s a cold fish, and we don’t need her to pilot, you or I could do that.” The man hadn’t even blinked when Paris had died, and he killed Mac and didn’t even seem fazed by it. “Alright, enough of this shit. You choose one and I’ll keep the others off your back.”  
There it was, the reason he had stopped Rehtaeh from killing the Merc. Riddick wanted the satisfaction of knowing that this cold bastard didn’t make it back out. After all the shit this Merc had put him through he wanted to make sure he was dead. Everyone called him the murderer, and yet there were men like Johns in the ‘verse who were publicly accepted and well received. It made no sense in the scheme of things. Hell yes, he had killed, but never a kid, never an innocent. Would he kill Rehtaeh if she got in his way? Maybe. Would he kill her just for the thrill of it? No. When Riddick stopped but didn’t respond, Johns persisted. “It’s not too big a job for you is it?”  
Riddick turned towards Johns and met the Mercs eyes. “I’m just wondering if we don’t need a bigger piece of bait.”   
“Like who? I do admit all of them are pretty small. If you did two, it would be better.” Johns said as he contemplated Riddick’s words, at first it was obvious that he was considering other candidates. Then he realized what Riddick meant.  
Riddick knocked the flare out of Johns’ hands spinning himself and Johns around. He grabbed Johns’ shotgun and fired, but Johns blocked him just in time and the shot fired wide. He heard the others scatter. Johns grabbed the barrel of the gun and another shot went off. They struggled over it, Riddick elbowed Johns in the face trying to gain the control. Johns struck back twisting and pulling Riddick’s arm until it dislocated at the elbow, making him drop the gun on the ground. Riddick punched Johns in the face with his good hand throwing him off and towards an outcropping of jagged bones. Then he lifted his forearm back up and popped it back into place, gritting his teeth at the pain as he moved the joint back into place with a sickening crunch.   
Johns stopped himself from being skewered on the bones at the last moment and turned back towards Riddick starting to circle. Riddick took of the light that he had on his back. A beast screeched in the darkness, startling Johns for just a moment. It had picked up the scent of Johns bloodied nose and were moving in slowly. They continued to circle each other. Riddick pulled out his shiv, Johns pulled off his badge, revealing a bladed edge on it.   
“One Rule,” Riddick said as Johns made to slice him. Riddick knocked the blade out of the Merc’s hand and Johns spun to the ground. Riddick’s light dropped to the ground beside him. “Stay in the light.”  
Johns took that moment to spin back around opening his nightstick and took out Riddick's legs, he landed hard on his back dropping the shiv. Johns jumped him trying to hit him with the nightstick, but Riddick blocked the hit and disposed of the baton. Spying the discarded shiv on the ground Johns grabbed it trying to stick him. Riddick grabbed his hand struggling for control.   
“Remember that moment,” Riddick said punching Johns in the chest with his own hand making the Merc lose grip on the blade and rolled him off of him. As he rolled up he grabbed his shiv off the ground, Johns was back on his feet turning to fight as Riddick spun and sliced the Merc across the back. Johns screamed in pain as blood poured out of the deep gash.   
Riddick grabbed his light as Johns crawled toward his gun, “You shoulda never taken the chains off, Johns.” Just as the Merc reached his weapon, the flare burnt out.   
“You were one brave fuck before.” He could hear Johns reloading the gun. “Were a Billy Bad Ass.” Riddick taunted him as he was backing away into the night. “The chains, the gauge, the badge; I told you to ghost me.” He watched as Johns stood. The monsters starting to gather. He was flinching at every sound. A beast flew down over Johns’ head and he took a shot falling on his back. He scrambled to his feet, ejecting the cartridge from the gun. Then another came running at him through the darkness, he took too long to cock the gun and the beast skewered the Merc through the chest. Then just as Riddick thought it was over the beast snapped forward and took Johns’ head.  
Riddick turned to go find the others. He could hear them running through the darkness. He had two choices, follow the trail to the canyon, where he knew Rehtaeh would be waiting for him. If he came back without the others, she would be pissed. He wasn’t sure why the hell that suddenly mattered to him. If he went after the idiots running back to the crashed ship, he could use whoever survived as a cover. Besides one of them might have held on to a cell, he doubted it but he couldn’t take that chance. So he took off in that direction, it was mere minutes before he caught back up. Carolyn, Imam, and Suleiman were there, no cells, and no Shazza, Jack or Rehtaeh. It was a damn shame, all this running in fear. It would get every one of them killed. Finally, he caught up with the group.  
“So back to the ship, huh?” Riddick looked at Carolyn, spooking her as he showed up out of nowhere. “Just huddle together till the lights burn out.”  
“Get away from us,” Carolyn gasped, stepping back in fear. Holding the light between them like a weapon, like it was really a threat? She looked around wildly, accusingly, “Where is Shazza? Shazza!”  
“Till you can’t see what’s eating you. That the big plan?” Riddick taunted her. Far off in the direction of the canyon he heard three distinct gunshots, that was the sign he had been waiting for. She was still alive.  
“Where’s Shazza?” The Imam asked him.   
“My bet is she stuck with Rehtaeh and the kid.” Riddick pointed in the direction of the gunshots, the direction of the canyon.   
“And Johns?” Imam looked at him uncertainly.  
“Which half?” The beast had skewered him and eaten the top, so it was a valid question. The added bonus of messing with the holy man just added extra appeal.  
“We’re gonna lose everybody out here,” Carolyn said nearly in tears, “We shoulda stayed at the ship.”  
“He died fast and if we have any choice about it, it’s how we should all go out,” Riddick told them all as he turned away to head after the other three. “Johns wanted to slice up Jack or Rehtaeh, he even brought up your name Carolyn, I wasn’t interested in his plan.”  
“Hell, we already lost them in the darkness,” Carolyn said gasping for breath looking around. “One moment they were there, the next they were gone.”   
“They ain’t dead. They’re the only ones going in the right direction.” Riddick told them. He figured Rehtaeh was too much of a fighter to just give up, and he wanted to finish playing his game with her. He was trying to find her breaking point, he wanted to see the strong woman break down, like every other woman he had ever met. How long would that fire last?  
They moved out then, in search of Rehtaeh and the others. All Riddick really cared about was getting the power cells to the skiff. They returned to the place where they had stopped when Johns had come up with his plan, but there was nothing there. The only thing marking the trail was their scent and marks from the cells as they were dragged along the rocky ground. They had long passed the spot where Johns had been killed. They were only fifty feet from the canyon walls, three of the cells perched beside a sled they had made out of the larger bones that littered the ground. Using the cable that Jack had been carrying they had made a square frame and tied some cross bars to it for stability. The rack was then tied on top of some ribs to make the rails of the sled. There was a long loop of rope tied to the front of the sled to pull it. Jack was sitting in the middle of a little circle made out of their torches and a small fire they had built, what they had made it out of, he had no idea. It smelled like burning flesh, so he assumed that it was a raptor.  
Shazza was helping Rehtaeh haul the carcass of a massive beast out of the darkness, hauling it towards the sled. Jack jumped up from her spot in the light and waved enthusiastically with one arm. Carolyn and Imam ran to Jack hugging her in relief while Suleiman and Riddick walked the remainder of the way to the group. Shazza and Rehtaeh were both dripping with sweat from exertion. He wondered how far they had had to haul the creature. Shazza’s usually frizzy hair hung in limp curls around her face. Her sweat stained clothes clung to her frame as she hauled on the beast. Rehtaeh wore her headband around her temples, in an attempt to wick the sweat away, but it still ran in rivulets down her face. Her long blonde hair spilled down her back in thick waves. Her red shirt, still stained with blue blood was soaked through. She was breathing hard. The fourth cell was still in place on her back, her silver hair caressing and swirling around it.  
“Hey, can you grab an end and help us get it onto the sled?” Shazza smiled as she asked Riddick with hopeful eyes. Rehtaeh continued to ignore him and kept pulling the raptor.   
Jack’s enthusiasm was contagious as she welcomed Carolyn, Imam, and Suleiman and started explaining Rehtaeh’s latest plan. “The Bio-Raptors are flammable! We’re going to use this body for light.”   
“Is there any way you can get her to stop? She won’t let Jack or I check her wounds and Jack says you are the only one she lets touch her.” Shazza looked pointedly at him and then at Rehtaeh, then she released her grip on the beast and joined the rest of the group. How would Jack know anything about how Rehtaeh reacted to him? Unless she had been spying, the kid did have a history of doing that.  
“I am fine.” She growled under her breath to herself as she pulled the monster towards the sled. She glanced at him then, meeting his eyes for just a moment. “Johns wanted to trawl a body right? We’re going to light this motherfucker up and trawl with it.”  
“Why?” She had overheard them then. Her quiet voice told him that she had not shared this knowledge with Jack. Riddick growled at her, “You could have been half way down the canyon already.”  
“Not injured like I am, Riddick, even with Shazza pulling two of the cells. I’m pretty tough but geez you people expect a lot.” She told him tartly, she was still breathing heavy. The others rejoined Rehtaeh and Riddick, taking in the woman still hauling the large raptor towards her sled.  
“We thought you were dead. We didn’t know where you went.” Imam told Rehtaeh, his tone was almost admonishing.  
“We’re going to the skiff, I can’t pilot the damn thing, but that’s where we’re going.” She said still pulling the massive creature, then she turned glaring towards the Canyon. “The skiff is through there, and unless you haven’t noticed there is no way we will make it through without a helluva lot of light.”   
“Rehtaeh, are you okay? You don’t look well.” Carolyn asked as she grabbed the other woman’s shoulder and spun her around. Rehtaeh screamed, jerking away and dropping to her knees, Carolyn recoiled in shock. Riddick was surprised. He had never seen her react so violently to another person’s touch before.  
“Touch hurts her Carolyn,” Imam told her when her face fell in shock at Rehtaeh’s reaction.  
“Only Riddick doesn’t hurt,” Rehtaeh whispered, as though telling them some appalling news. Carolyn was right, she looked very ill. Her skin was shiny with sweat, her eyes glittered wildly in the weak light. She rose slowly to her feet and he could see the tremors as they racked her body. She turned back towards the beast and looked down at it and then at the sled which was only a few meters away. She moved to grab a hold of the raptor and Riddick stepped in front of her, she skirted him and tried to go around.  
“What are you doing Rehtaeh?” Riddick stepped right in front of her blocking her path, forcing her to stop. She looked up at him. There was something flashing in her eyes, something dark and feverish was burning there. He looked down at her. She gave him a hostile glare, as she tried to duck around him. He grabbed her arm and held her in place. She had completely shut him out as though her reaction to his presence meant nothing to her.  
“I am taking this monster and putting it on the sled.” She growled at him, her voice became hard and sarcastic as she continued, “What does it look like I am doing?”  
“Rehtaeh,” He growled in warning, as once again she pulled away from him and grabbed the T-shaped head of the monster and resumed dragging it.  
“No more games Riddick, I am done,” Rehtaeh growled at him under her breath, for his ears only. “I am not your toy.”


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
Riddick  
“Everyone, take a breather,” Riddick told the group, he waited for them to move to an area where they could sit and relax for a moment. He took her hands off of the beast and hauled it to the sled himself, throwing it up onto the rack. The sled was sturdy, the structure barely made a noise under the heavy mass.   
He looked back at her, she was glaring at him, and there was something off about her stance. It was as though she were trying to keep her defenses up. He took a step towards her and she took a step back towards the darkness. She was wary of him and was keeping him at a distance. He needed a lure. He remembered the knife that he had taken from her, still sitting in his waistband. He took it out and held it to her, “Here Mac wanted you to have them.”  
“I promised Mac I would make it off this rock. I promised Mac and he’s dead. He died for me. He shouldn’t have done that for me.” She said softly as she looked at the knife and then at him, trying to gauge him. She was wary, and her stance told him that she was still angry with him. Her scent was spicier than usual, not quite as sweet, less like apple pie and more like a ginger snap. Interesting how she always smelled like his favorite treats.  
“Mac was a good man,” Riddick told her. He moved in close as though to just hand her the knife. As she reached for it, he dropped the knife and grabbed her wrist pulling him to her, she yelped in surprise. She put up her hands in a defensive position. They pushed hard against his chest, punching him a couple times, but he refused to let up, pulling her closer. Her hands flattened as she tried to push him away, then her fingertips brushed his flesh just above the hem of his collar and she gasped at the contact. He could smell her arousal instantly and she growled in frustration and hit him again.   
“Damn you, Riddick, Why do you do this to me? You wind me up just so you can watch me spin. I don’t like it.” Her husky whisper swirled around him as her hands clenched back into fists.   
“Liar. You love it.” Riddick countered as he gloried in the scent of her desire for him. She sighed and shook her head, as though trying to deny what he already knew. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. She leaned against him, putting her head on his chest, in submission.   
It was a ruse, he realized it too late, she hooked his foot with her owns and shoved him hard. He had to release her to keep his footing and she danced back out of his reach. “Don’t play this game with me, Riddick, you might lose.”  
He growled as she walked away from him, there was only one place where she belonged and that was under him, around him, on him. He wanted her in every way. Something about her called to him on an animal level. She found a place to sit on a large rock a distance away from the cart and the other cells. He noticed that she stayed a long way from the group; it was as though even at a distance they were causing her pain. She stayed just within the pool of light offered by the grouping of the torches and the little fire.   
He felt like a voyeur as he watched her. She shrugged the cell off her shoulders and stretched out her arms and back. He admired the way her tight jeans hugged her hips and thighs, the way her breasts thrust out as she arched her back. Her tight shirt accentuated every curve of her tight little body. She started massaging the muscles in her arms and shoulders, working out the knots. He wanted to take over rubbing her muscles; she was like a magnet to him, what the hell? Her fingers kept getting tangled in her hair as she tried to relieve the aches in her muscles. She pulled the matted bluish mess from her headband, which she wrapped around her wrist and started to comb through it. He grew hard as he watched as she pulled the silver mass over her left shoulder and tilted her head so she could braid it. The movement exposed the pale muscular column of her throat and the tender, vulnerable pulse that he could see throbbing there. Rehtaeh was oblivious to the effect that she had on him. She ignored him completely. The woman was trying to stay cold to him, and he couldn’t have that.  
“We are not done. Our game is not over yet.” Riddick growled at her, stalking after her. He grabbed her arms and hauled her back to her feet and pressed her up against him. Her hands were tangled in her hair; she couldn’t fight him without hurting herself. He forced her to look him in the eye. His hand on her face was like a shock to her system; her heart began to race in her chest. He tangled one hand in the hair at the nape of her neck and held her against him with his other hand at the small of her back. He kept his hands away from her injuries to keep her from unnecessary pain. He claimed her exposed throat just under her ear, pressing his lips to the racing pulse that he found there. He was rewarded with a small moan before she silenced herself with a squeak. He wanted all of her sounds. He wanted to immerse himself in her and take everything she had to give him.  
He nibbled on her earlobe, brushed his bared teeth against her jaw, growling when she tried to pull away. Then he kissed her, he wanted her fire, her determination, her strength. He felt her fight herself, trying to stay cold to him, but he was not going to let the ice take over. He devoured her mouth, biting her bottom lip, sucking on it, nibbling trying to get her to open up for him. It wasn’t until he started to pull away that her small warm hands pulled him back down to her. She growled then, in frustration and in warning. Her lips crushed his, she bit him back, worrying his lower lip, ran her tongue over his, explored his sharp teeth. Her tongue battled fervently with his. She clung to him as though he was her life source, as though she could not get enough. She hadn’t even tried to breath. She was pure passion and fire. Then she pulled away, her breath coming in little pants. Her eyes were wide, and hungry. He needed a place where he could take her, and soon.  
“May and Mac, my parents. Everyone I have ever cared for is dead.” She growled at him, her voice was hoarse and her fingers clenched into his shirt holding him to her. She sounded angry still, her frustration and rage echoed softly in the harsh whisper. She looked him directly in the eye, the silver pupils ringed with the darkest of purple. “I did that. They died, because I loved them. I can’t do that to you. I am trying to protect you from-.”  
“What are you saying?” Riddick looked at her, in anger; she could not have said what he thought she did. Who the hell was she to say words like that to him?  
“Since that first day, when I heard your heartbeat, I knew. I knew, Damn it, Riddick!” Rehtaeh hit him weakly as her whispered angry voice filled him with some emotion he could not name. He didn’t want to name. Her heart beat rose slightly and he could smell the smallest trace of panic. It was not directed at him though; she was opening herself up to something that scared her. “I had to force myself not to release you from cryo. My logical mind knew you were a convict, a killer. The animal side of me doesn’t care. In you I feel my equal.” He heard her heart stall and then speed up. This explained why she did not fear him. She lowered her eyes as a sob choked her voice, “I have loved you for weeks, months even. I can’t let it destroy you. So kill me, Riddick. End it now.”  
“I decide when this is over,” Riddick growled at her releasing her. Her revelation had stunned him. He could almost always tell when someone was lying to him. Rehtaeh was a terrible liar. Why would she tell him this? No one had ever loved him. No woman had ever said anything that wasn’t in the heat of passion. He would deal with this later. “You just be ready to go when I am, or I will leave you behind.”  
She looked at him for a long time, eyes glittering like an animal in the darkness, as though she knew something he didn’t. He left her there and checked on the rest of the group, they were praying with Imam and he left them to it, he had no desire to join them. Instead, he allowed them to gather themselves together before heading toward the skiff. He noticed a particular skeleton, it was one of the larger bio-raptors, and it was missing a sensor bone which he found on the ground beside it. Picking it up, he realigned the skeleton and examined it for a long moment getting right up close. There was one point right in the middle where the beast couldn’t see. “Blind spot.”  
“Would you like to pray?” Imam asked coming out of the darkness, surprising Riddick out of his thought. Riddick moved to sit down for a rest and Imam set down his lamp and joined him, “I have already prayed with the others. It is painless.”  
“It is pointless,” Riddick replied, his voice void of any emotion. He had been a child the last time he had prayed, and it had gotten him nothing.   
“Just because you do not believe in God, does not mean God does not believe in you.” The holy man advised him sagely. The man could try to convince him till he was blue in the face, there was nothing he could say that would change his mind. He was not going to pray to a God that had never been there for him.  
“You think someone can spend half their life in a slam, with a horse bit in their mouth and not believe? You think he can start out in some liquor store trash bin with an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and not believe? You got it all wrong holy man, I absolutely believe in God, and I absolutely hate the fucker.” Riddick looking at his hands, all of the things he had done in his life to survive, just because God had never taken the time to even listen to his prayers. It was like the Deity had a vendetta against him. Nothing had ever come easy for him, and when he tried to do right, it always blew up in his face.  
“He is still with us nonetheless,” Imam told him, a sad, mournful look on his face. The last thing Riddick needed was his pity.   
“Two of your boys are already dead? How much faith do you have left, Father?” Riddick asked the man, reminding him of the two boys that had died on this awful planet.   
“I’m sorry, Rehtaeh! Come back.” Jack called out, alerting Riddick that the girl was off again.   
“It’s okay Jack, I understand,” Rehtaeh told the girl quietly, her voice had an edge to it. “I have to get the sled prepped anyways.”  
He went after her. She had her that damn cell on her back again and had lit the beast on fire. It was blazing steadily. She was pulling the sled to the top of a small rise aiming it at the head of the canyon and peered into the darkness ahead of her. She kept the torch behind her as she stopped and peered through the darkness. Listening and feeling for the monsters as they called out to one another; fought each other and ate each other.   
“It works, and I am sick and tired of waiting around,” Rehtaeh growled as he joined her. She looked up at him through her hair. The black headband was still around her wrist. “If you people are done pussyfooting around, I would like to get off this fucking rock.”  
“Imam, you and your kid can pull the sled. If the fire gets low, put another carcass on it. Keep it burning and keep it moving forward. Carolyn and Shazza keep Jack between you. Everyone just has to stay in the light.” Riddick ordered as the rest of the group gathered around Rehtaeh, Imam, and his son took the harness from Rehtaeh. With her freed hand, she pulled her gun out of its holster and flipped off the safety, ready once again to take point. Riddick pulled ahead, looking into the canyon, to see why she had hesitated. There were so many of the beasts lining the walls; perched on rocks and bones. It would be a miracle if they all survived. There was only a small sliver of space through the canyon, where they could get through without taking too much damage, a small path where the sled would fit through.   
“I see only one way, that way.” He pointed it out, as much for himself as for Rehtaeh, knowing the others couldn’t see the path that he was indicating. “It’s the only way off this rock. Just stay in the light and stay on the path.”   
Riddick headed back through the group, and Imam asked, “What about the cells?”  
“I’ll take those,” Riddick told him, he grabbed the cells and put his goggles on because he would be behind the group. Once everyone was ready, he told them, “Move.”  
Rehtaeh complied immediately, holding her torch high and back so that she could see what was in front of her, and still be in the light.   
“Are you sure you can keep up?” Imam asked him, looking doubtfully at him and then the cells. He would have no problems.  
“Move!” He yelled at them and started running.   
Rehtaeh was ahead of them, marking the path where they needed to take the sled. Imam and his son were right behind her with Carolyn and Shazza following close behind keeping Jack between them. Rehtaeh was far ahead when a swarm of the baby raptors swooped down. Carolyn and Shazza lifted their torches above their heads as they jogged forward, Jack did the same. Some of the beasts that flew too close caught on fire and started to fall. Riddick tried his best to avoid the little firebombs but was hit by a couple on their way down. He couldn’t see Rehtaeh anymore she was too far ahead of the group and the light from the sled was nearly blinding him. He felt something splatter on his arm and glanced at it, the last thing they needed was rain. It was blue, the blood of the raptors. He kept moving but glanced up and saw the creatures start to tear each other apart.   
“Do not look up.” He yelled at everyone. Carolyn started to slow, “Do not look up!”  
She looked up and slowed to a stop. “They’re killing each other!”   
Riddick had to push her forward and out of the way, or they would have both been taken down by the falling monster. Shazza helped Carolyn back to her feet and they ran to catch up with the sled. Bodies and parts were falling everywhere, one fell directly on the sled slowing Imam and his son, and adding fuel to the growing bonfire that they were pulling. They kept running trying to make it through the canyon. One of the beasts fell on the power cells causing him to fall; he scrambled to get his feet back under him and kept going.   
They came to the massive skeletons, where the sand cat had knocked the bones earlier. Someone had pushed the huge bones aside, just enough to allow the sled passage. There were body parts that were now littering the entire area. They looked as though they had been splayed out in dripping gory masses over the bones. Carcasses were everywhere. From the scent of the blood on the bones, Rehtaeh was pushing the bones out of the way so that the sled could pass. Once it was far enough, she would move to the next one. She was leaving a blood trail and touching her torch to the bodies that littered the sides of the canyon, making a brightly lit path attempting to keep the monsters out of the valley. He heard the retort of a gun indicating that Rehtaeh had run into more beasts.   
“Move it!” Riddick yelled at everyone as they slowed to a stop. “Keep moving!”  
Carolyn and Shazza moved ahead of the sled and cleared more of the bones and carcasses out of the way so they could pull the sled through the valley of death. He had pushed ahead of the group, trying to catch up with Rehtaeh, and trying his damnedest to get through the canyon as fast as his legs could carry him. Jack was trying to stay with him but she was falling behind and she kept getting caught in the slippery remains that littered the ground. This damn burning path was impairing his vision and he had to keep his goggles on. Riddick heard the screaming as one of the beasts braved the lighted path and went after Jack. The creatures were getting more and more daring getting closer and closer to the trail of light that Rehtaeh had left for them. The kid was screaming bloody terror, and he heard her calling for him to wait. “Riddick!”   
He kept going, he had to get those cells back to the ship. It was then that he heard the beast swoop down and heard Jack scream again in fear. The girl had gotten caught in a shallow area of exposed darkness far away from the shelter of light. The monster had taken advantage of this and the only thing that kept the beast from killing her was the massive bone which she had found for shelter. It was beating its bony skull against it trying to break through it to get the girl. Riddick turned away. If only she had done as he asked. How hard was it to stay in the light? Carolyn was trying to burn the beast with her light and her torch, but the beast was ignoring her. It had caught the scent of Jack’s blood and that was what it was going for. Shazza had a bone club and was bashing at the monster on the other side.  
The curly haired woman swept the bone back and took a massive swing as another beast swept down on them and picked her up, pulling her into the air. Her hit had never even had a chance to connect with the monster attacking Jack. A swarm of smaller raptors swept around her and Shazza was torn to pieces; her screams of agony and terror echoed through the canyon as they carried her remains away. The first beast which had been attacking Jack snapped at Carolyn again before trying again for Jack at a different angle. It still couldn’t reach her and the girls’ terrified screams called to him. Imam and Suleiman were still trying to push the sled forward, trying to bring the light closer to the beast so that Jack would again be safe in the light.  
‘Fuck it.’ He thought, he took off his goggles and ran back. The beast caught his motion and turned toward him, seeing him as easier prey, and not surrounded by light. It ran at him and he grabbed it by the bone sensors on either side of its horrifying mouth and he held it off. It kept trying to take a bite out of him but was not having much luck. Then it pulled back thinking it could use greater momentum to break whatever barrier was holding it back. It was just the moment that Riddick was waiting for. He spun slicing the beast’s chest open, he slashed at it again and finally he gutted the fucker. Its entrails fell to the ground, blue blood splattering the rocks in a sloppy mess. It dropped to the side. For good measure, he broke the creature’s neck and growled into the darkness, “Did not know who he was fuckin’ with.”   
He met Carolyn and Jacks looks of shock and fear, as they gaped at him, standing over the creature. There was regret written all over Jack’s face as she looked down the canyon towards where the other woman had disappeared. “I should have stayed with Rehtaeh like I promised.”  
He growled in agreement and headed back the way he had come from. Ready again Riddick grabbed his cells and started running, the others were behind him again. They were finally coming close to the end of the canyon when it started to rain. Riddick started to laugh, he sounded like some great monster with his laugh echoing through the canyon.  
“So where the hell’s your god now?” Riddick looked back at Imam, he and his son still hauling the sputtering sled. The flames flickered and started to die out, the rain dousing the blaze. They moved under a small outcropping of stone, to try to rest and keep the torches going. Riddick climbed onto a shelf trying to see how far they were to the settlement and where Rehtaeh might be.  
“Riddick are we close?” Carolyn cried out, her torch had gone out. She and Jack were trying desperately to re-light it, but it was too wet. Riddick didn’t respond. They were close, but there were beasts waiting for them the entire way. With Jack bleeding and no light, they would never make it. Hell, he didn’t even know if Rehtaeh had made it okay.   
“Just tell me the settlement is right there.” She was beginning to sound desperate.   
“We can’t make it,” He didn’t say it loud, but they all heard him. Just then, there was a wet slick sound beside Imam as something snaked down, grabbing Jack by the throat and starting to lift her up. Again the girl cried his name, Imam and Suleiman screamed for her trying to reach the girls’ rising body. There was a massive bang as a gun discharged and then again and again until the clip was empty and the girl dropped into the holy man's arms, the severed tail still around her throat. Jack landed badly on her ankle, their a loud crunch and the pre-teen screamed in agony.  
He looked at Rehtaeh as she materialized from the mist at the top of the rise, smoking gun in her raised hand. Her power cell was gone; he assumed she had made it to the ship, dropped it there and come back for them. He blinked as he realized there was no mist, no fog. The ground where she stood was clearly visible. He shook his head in frustration and growled at her, “Where the hell have you been?”


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16  
Rehtaeh  
She watched him walk away, trying to slow her heart back to a normal pace. She was a horrible liar, so every part of her plan needed to be built on the truth. She knew that he wanted to continue his game, but she threw in the L-word knowing that it would spook him. He had already planned to ditch everyone the second he got the chance, which meant she had to stay ahead of him. She grabbed Mac’s discarded knife from the ground and secured it in her other boot. Then she pulled the cell back onto her back. She gritted her teeth at the deep ache in her torso. She had nearly reached her limit; her ribs could barely tolerate the extra weight and the ropes had almost rubbed her skin raw beneath her t-shirt. She took a couple of deep breaths and pushed the pain away, it was not needed. She refused to give in until they were all in that skiff and off the planet, then she could die in peace.  
She waited for Imam to be done praying with the others and rebuffed him gently when he offered to pray with her. She told him that she had already sent her thoughts to the universe, and spoken her piece to karma. She went after Jack and asked the girl if she was ready to get going, it was time to light the beast on fire.  
“I’m going to stick with Carolyn and Shazza this time, if that’s okay with you, Rehtaeh,” Jack told her, her voice sounded almost hostile and angry. What the hell? What did she do to the kid to get this response? She had been polite, cordial even. She had gone so far as to answer all of the kid’s questions about her fighting techniques, and about her military background. The only thing she wouldn’t talk about was her relationship with Riddick. Hell, Rehtaeh had more questions about that topic than she had answers. Jack had asked about Riddick’s kiss back at the crash ship when he had come upon her in the darkness. She had snapped at Jack for spying on them, she needed to learn to give people their privacy. Jack had taken offense to that and had been even pissier when Shazza had taken Rehtaeh’s side.  
“Fine, I will get it going myself.” Rehtaeh looked at the girl for a long moment before walking away. Even though Rehtaeh had kept her promise and kept the monsters at bay, Jack really hadn’t appreciated the effort she and Shazza had put out for her.  
“I’m sorry, Rehtaeh! Come back.” Jack called out. There was a sudden guilty whine to her voice that irritated Rehtaeh.   
“It’s okay Jack, I understand. I have to get the sled prepped anyways.” She told the girl, trying her damnedest not to show her irritation. The kid was on the rag. She would use that as the reason the kid was suddenly acting bitchy towards her. She had not given the kid any reason to turn on her. So maybe the kid was just ‘PMS’ing.  
She needed to test the sled out and get the fire going so she let the flame from her lantern flicker over the flesh of the monster. She knew that it would take a few minutes to catch being a slow burner, but at least the light would be bright. Once it was going, she walked to the head of the sled and pulled on the rope. She was weak and she knew it, but if she could move it then so could the others, and that was all she needed to know. She got it to move closer to the mouth of the canyon and got it positioned just at the top of a little cusp. Whoever ended up pulling it, they would have a good start. Relaxing her hold on the lead she stepped forward to take a look at the canyon. She was lined up right where she wanted the sled to go. She could make a path from there; Riddick joined her at the head of the sled. He was grumpy again, was she rushing him? Too freaking bad, she had plans of her own.   
“It works, and I am sick and tired of waiting around.” She growled at him, she was tired, angry and impatient. “If you people are done pussyfooting around, I would like to get off this fucking rock.”  
“Imam, you and your kid can pull the sled. If the fire gets low, put another carcass on it. Keep it burning and keep it moving forward. Carolyn and Shazza keep Jack between you. Everyone just has to stay in the light.” Riddick told the holy man when he joined them at the sled. Nodding the man took the lead from her hands and she pulled out her gun, she flicked the safety off and prepared to run. Riddick stepped up front beside her and peered into the canyon, she knew he would see things the same as she did. Only one point of entry, one path to get them to the skiff, if they couldn’t get through it, they were all doomed.   
“I see only one way, that way.” He told her, she nodded her agreement well aware that the others couldn’t see the path that he was indicating. “It’s the only way off this rock. Just stay in the light and stay on the path.”   
“What about the cells?” Imam asked as Riddick headed to the back of the group to pick them up from where she had propped them.  
“I’ll take those.” Riddick put his goggles on and grabbed the cells positioning himself behind the group. He waited for everyone to gather at the entrance and ordered, “Move!”  
That was all she needed to start running, ignoring the cell bumping against her spine. She heard Imam’s voice behind her and Riddick’s responding order for everyone to ‘Move’ and she rolled her eyes. What would it take to get these people to listen to reason? She ran to the entrance of the path, lighting the way she wanted them to go. Imam and his son were right on her heels with the burning sled. Carolyn and Shazza followed behind them keeping Jack in the middle. Riddick was hauling the cells at the tail.   
She didn’t stop for anything, as long as the sled could fit through the trail then they could deal with the rest, it was no longer her problem. It’s not that she didn’t care; she just had a job to do. Open up the trail, keep the buzzards off their scent and get the cell to safety. She was just about at the top of a small rise when she was pelted with a gale of baby raptors. She held her torch above her head and knelt down letting the things pass over her before moving on. She yelped when she was struck on the shoulder by a drop of something freezing cold. She glanced up and saw the incoming carcasses and hunks of flesh, she jumped left to avoid one and then had to scrabble right to avoid another. The fuckers were tearing each other apart.  
She reached the bone yard and stopped for a half a breath to survey the sight before her. There were beasts everywhere killing and rending each other to pieces, several of the massive skeletons had collapsed, closing in their trail obliterating it in other places. There were carcasses littering the way and she did not want to be in this openness without light, but she knew that she needed to clear the trail or they would never get everyone through. She decided to use this to their advantage and light their broken bodies on fire, making a massive trail of light for the others to stay in on their way through. Once she was in the protection of light, she got to work moving the bones and bodies out of the way. She pulled one massive bone to the side and started pushing at another, trying to widen the trail. Her scabbed hands reopened on the porous bones leaving a trail of blood on them. She ignored it and moved on, the cuts were not life threatening, and there was nothing she could do about it.   
She pushed another one out of the way as the sled entered the bone yard, and moved on to another. She continually set whatever she could on fire to give them as much light as she could. She moved what she could, but there were more beasts falling behind her closing the trail back up, she could not fall back. She needed to keep going forward. The plan depended on it. She finally reached an area with a long gap, nothing in the way. It was a vast dark stretch that set out before her. Holding her flame high she moved into the darkness, but it wasn’t long before the beasts caught the scent of blood on her hands, and she was surrounded by three coming out of the darkness. She shot one after the other in quick succession and once they were down she lit their bodies on fire. “Burn you fuckers, burn in Hell!”  
She moved on quickly, looking for a safe place to hide the cell, a safe place that was easily accessible and could be defensible. She could hear the commotion behind her, Jack screaming for Riddick in terror, her voice carried through the dark night. She turned back for just a moment, fighting herself, she knew the girl needed help, but she was already too far away. Riddick was closer, and he had grown attached to the kid, whether he wanted to admit it or not was up to him, but she knew in her heart that he would help her. She sent a plea to the universe to help him find his human side.   
She was standing there trying to convince herself to move when something fell and rolled at her feet, Rehtaeh looked down and was instantly seized by the dry heaves. It took everything in her to not drop her torch as the muscles of her stomach clenched again and again, forcing the bile up into her burning throat. When they finally subsided, she climbed shakily back to her feet and found a bone that she could use to dig a small hole in the ground. Finally, she forced herself to pick up Shazza’s skull and bury it in the shallow grave.  
“I am sorry Shazza. I hope you find Zeke in the afterlife.” Rehtaeh whispered as she covered the bloodied scalp back up with a pile of dirt, and then placed the bone on top to mark her grave. Then she stood and looked back towards the group, they were consoling Jack and Riddick was yelling at them to move their asses. She needed to do the same.  
She picked up her torch and ran forward, closer and closer to the canyons outlet. Then she saw the little cave. She held her light high and crept forward to explore it. It was empty, completely deserted and there was no way that the beasts could get in from the tops and sides, she just needed something to cover the doorway. She eased the cell off of her back and hid it in the very back out of view of the entrance. She nearly cried when the weight left her shoulders, she didn’t even want to consider the damage that had been done to her body by it or the cables. She left her light inside burning brightly so she could find it again, and slowly emerged back out into the darkness.   
“I am one with darkness, they can’t smell me, can’t see me, can’t hear me.” She chanted to herself quietly once. Then she repeated the line over and over in her mind as she prowled out into the darkness her gun always at the ready. She was so close to the skiff she could see the outpost from here. There was a massive boulder a little further up. It would be perfect for covering the entrance to the cave. The only problem, there were two beasts standing beside it, facing the opposite direction. If she used her gun again, Riddick would know something was up and she only had six shots in one gun and seven in the other. She pulled her knives and approached slowly, so far they hadn’t seen her or caught her scent. She repeated her mantra in her mind. ‘I am one with darkness, they can’t smell me, can’t see me, can’t hear me.'  
She stalked them, getting closer and closer, they should have caught her scent already, but they hadn’t. Finally, she was right between them. She could see a small vee at the back of their heads. A vulnerable spot where the spine connected to the head, a complete nerve center, just like on a human, that was their sweet spot. She raised her arms out preparing, terrified that they would scent her and turn at the last moment. ‘You can’t hear me. You can’t see me. You can’t smell me.’ She thought as she swept her arms forward and buried the knives deep into their skulls and twisted them for good measure, just to ensure their deaths. She watched them fall and breathed a sigh of relief. That should not have even been possible, but somehow, it had worked.   
She pulled out the knives and put them both back into her boots. Then she painstakingly pushed the massive stone into place near the entrance to the cave. She had just gotten it close when it started to pour; she looked inside the cave and saw her flame flicker under a drop of water.   
“Shit!” she yelled and ran inside, she pulled the fire out from under the crack and set in a drier spot before she headed back out to look for the others. She prayed that her luck would hold and the darkness would hide her from the beasts just a little longer while she made her way back to the others. She didn’t have to look long they were really close.   
She heard Carolyn call out to Riddick her voice sounded scared and desperate, “Riddick are we close? Just tell me the settlement is right there.”   
“We can’t make it,” Riddick responded quietly.   
‘Liar,’ she thought, ‘it’s just around the corner and over the large rise.’   
She came around the corner to see Jack dangling by the throat from the tail of a beast perched high above her. The girl screamed for Riddick again and Suleiman and Imam were trying to pull her back to the ground. She raised the gun in her left hand and discharged until the tail broke apart and the girl dropped to the ground. There was a loud crunch as the Jack landed and Rehtaeh worried that the kid had broken something, she screamed in agony as Imam helped her away from the wall and away from danger.  
Riddick swung his head in her direction, blinking the rain out of his eyes. He looked pissed off and glared at her. He shook his head in frustration and growled at her, “Where the hell have you been?”  
She pointed in the general direction of the skiff. “I found shelter, my light is there.” She said as she slid her empty gun into its holster, then she looked at Riddick before she turned and walked away. “We can break there. Come on, it’s not far.”  
She showed them to her cave, where her torch was flickering brightly in the darkness. She moved to the very back, out of reach of Riddick, where he couldn’t have a private conversation with her unless he joined them inside. Everything she planned leaned on the idea that he figured that she would have gone straight to the ship. Like she had told him she planned to do. She had thought about it again for just a moment. The man was selfish, and even though he enjoyed playing their game, she knew that he would leave her behind if it meant his own survival. Everyone was piling in. Imam half carried Jack, and Suleiman came in before Carolyn. Everyone but Riddick, he stayed outside. He shoved the massive stone into place. From the back of the cave, she saw his eyes flashing through the darkness, hesitation written all over his face, and then she knew. He had taken her bait.  
“Shazza is dead,” Suleiman said looking at her, his English was very accented and Rehtaeh nearly cried in shock. It was the first time she had heard the boy speak to anyone other than Imam. “She was your friend.”  
“I know, Suleiman. I-. I know. We have lost too many people tonight.” Rehtaeh said, as the thought of the woman, trying to keep her tears at bay. She had come to respect the woman deeply. Her knowledge had helped them come this far.   
It was still wet and dripping even in the dark cave, water running down from a massive crack in the rock above their heads, but at least it was fully enclosed and sheltered from the beasts. They could take the time and patch up Jack’s leg and take a bit of a rest before Riddick came back. Rehtaeh checked the kid’s leg, it seemed like a real nasty sprain, but she couldn’t be sure. Regardless they would need to find a way to splint it or support it enough for her to walk on it. Using strips of Imam’s and Suleiman’s robes they bound it tight. It would need a cast once they got to civilization but for now the sturdy bandages would help the poor girl get to the skiff. It would be a bitch to walk on, but at least she wouldn’t be screaming in complete agony the entire way. Once they were done, they sat there looking at each other. It felt as though eons had already passed in waiting.  
Jack’s softer feminine voice whispered through the darkness. “Why is he still out there?”   
“He’s taking the cells back to the skiff,” Rehtaeh told her, quietly. “He’s hoping to get the cells on board and power it up.”  
Jack and Carolyn shared a long look. Riddick wouldn’t have even gotten there yet. He still needed to get out of the canyon, up the hill, and then down to the settlement. Along the way, he would need to contend with countless bio raptors. It would take some time for him to get there and back. Jack poured what was left of Carolyn’s alcohol bottle into Jack’s since there wasn’t a whole lot left in it. Rehtaeh’s was nearly empty as well so they did the same with hers. It gave them a few more minutes of light and heat. She was freezing. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was sitting in this cave so close to the others or because her clothing was once again soaking wet. She was really glad at that moment that she wasn’t fond of white; otherwise she would be sharing a wet t-shirt moment with everyone.   
She looked at each one of her companions in turn. They were all soaked to the bone. Imam was leaning against the rock holding his beads and silently praying. Suleiman kept giving young Jack sidelong glances and Rehtaeh had to try not to laugh. They boy liked the young girl. Carolyn was worried; Rehtaeh could see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to measure the time passing versus whether Riddick should have made it back yet or not. Jack was just hoping for her hero to return, she went from being completely hopeless about their situation one moment and entirely too hopeful the next. At least she wasn’t belly-aching about the pain in her ankle.  
“He’s not coming back is he?” Jack asked Carolyn, the two of them shared another long look. They were worried; worried that he was going to leave on that ship without them, worried that he would leave them there to die. She knew that he had no choice but to return.  
She moved away from the group and sat back, leaning against the stone. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “He’ll be back.”  
“Yeah, right, just because you think he likes you, doesn’t mean he’s coming back,” Carolyn argued with her, her tone was hostile. ‘Wait, what reason did Carolyn have to be hostile towards her all of a sudden?’ She thought as she arched an eyebrow at the other woman and was given an angry almost jealous look in return.  
“In all honesty, Carolyn, I have no idea if the guy even remotely likes me,” Rehtaeh sighed looking up at the other woman. “He has been playing games with me all bloody day long. As far as I can tell, that’s his M.O. Modus Operandi. He likes to fuck with people.”  
“Bullshit, I saw the two of you kissing when we were taking that break. It didn’t look like any games to me.” Carolyn all but accused her, basically called her out for being kissed by the man. “His hands were all over you.”  
“That just proves that he enjoyed kissing me, Carolyn.” Rehtaeh reminded her, lying back on a massive slab of stone at the back of the cavern. Rehtaeh was so tired. She could have easily dropped into sleep right then. She closed her eyes, “I love the guy, but it’s not like I have deluded myself into thinking I am all that special either. If Riddick really wants to get off this rock, he will come back.”  
She tried to keep her eyes open, but exhaustion was really beginning to take a toll on her. Rehtaeh dozed on and off for a while, her injuries and all of the exertion from the long day had taken nearly everything out of her. The rest of the group fell into silence for a long while, watching the flame burn lower and lower. She listened vaguely as they talked about odds and ends, trying to keep the silence from getting to them. Listening to the creatures get closer and closer as they smelled the human buffet lying in wait for them. The screeches, scratching, and clicking, were getting louder and louder. Rehtaeh hated it; all they could do was wait. There was scratching on the rocks as the monsters tried to figure out a way into their cavern. They shared several long fearful looks until finally the light went out, and the cave went black.  
There was a slow change in the light, it was faint at first, really didn’t bother her eyes. Until the cave itself seemed to be glowing. Rehtaeh opened her eyes and looked up at the roof of the cave. There were dozens of small glow-bugs clinging to the roof of the cave. That was a change. They started gathering the bugs and stuffing them into the empty alcohol bottle. Filling it up as full as they could, once they had it filled, they scraped the label off of it so that the light would be brighter.  
“I’m going after him,” Carolyn told them, looking directly at Jack when she said it. “I am going after him and I will bring back more light.”  
“You don’t need to do that Carolyn, he will be back,” Rehtaeh told her or tried to tell her. The woman had decided to be angry and jealous, and she was refusing to listen to her, even though she tried interrupting a couple more times.   
“Look, I don’t know what your deal is, but I really don’t need your attitude right now.” Carolyn snapped at her. “I am going after him and I will bring back more light, and get us off this rock.”   
“Fine. Whatever. Do what you want, Carolyn.” Rehtaeh sat back again and closed her eyes. She didn’t help the captain slide the rock out of the way or help put it back into place. She had tried to explain, it was not her fault that the woman was just too fucking stubborn to listen.  
It was several minutes later before Suleiman got the guts to ask, “How do you know he will be back?”  
“Because he needed four more cells to run that ship, he has three.” Rehtaeh sighed, opening her eyes and looking at the other three in the cave with her. “I had six brothers. Each and every one of them was as conniving and as diabolical as Riddick. They were always in for the win.” The others all looked at her in surprise and confusion. Wondering where this little story was leading. She still hadn’t told them how she knew that Riddick was coming back. “I know what it’s like to be the smallest, the weakest, and the one everyone gives up on first. I hated being the weakest link in the chain. So I made myself stronger, faster and tricked them into thinking I was smarter. After I figured out how to make my own rules, I never lost.”  
“I have three rules when playing a group escape game; the first rule is to make sure you are valuable. Second, never fall behind. ” She told them, and reached behind her and pulled out the fourth power cell, setting the heavy cell between her legs. “And the final and most important rule; always carry insurance.”  
Suleiman looked at her with a smile of almost admiration. He really looked at her in the dim light. “Your eyes! They are kind of like Riddick’s. Just the pupils shine like his, the rest is black!”  
“Violet actually,” Rehtaeh whispered softly looking at the others. She braced herself for the glow and held the light to her face, and tried to keep her eyes wide open as she showed them the dark color. When they all had a good look, she moved back away from the light. “Sorry, the light is low, but it still hurts my eyes.”  
“How did you get your eyes like that? Was it like Riddick?” Jack asked, completely enthralled, hoping for some story or even confirmation of what Riddick told her.  
“Sorry Jack, mine are ‘au naturel.' I was born with them.” Rehtaeh told her gently. She grimaced and thought of all the strange things about her, things that she had been teased about as a kid. “I was born a freak of nature, and so I remain.”  
“Are your brothers like you? I mean, do they have the same eyes and the A.D.S. issues?” Suleiman asked in his thick accent. There was curiosity burning within their dark eyes. More like her? She had her doubts, Riddick was the closest person she had ever found with similar traits, and even then he was completely different from her.  
“No, they were much more normal than I was. They were considered above average in every way, but they were nothing like me. I look a lot like my mom, but the boys were the typical tall, dark and handsome stereotype. I can show you a picture when we get to the skiff, it’s in my pack.” Rehtaeh told them.   
The Imam smiled at her, his eyes seemed gentle, “You spoke in past tense, what happened to your brothers?”   
“They died, a while ago.” Rehtaeh looked at the ground, trying to choke back the sorrow that was threatening to overwhelm her. She had rehashed these emotions so many times, she should really be over it. The problem was that she had never actually said them out loud. She had never told anyone about them; about her family.  
“All of them?” Jack asked her eyes went wide in surprise. It was one thing to lose a brother, but to lose all six of them? Without it being some horrendous tragedy, was unheard of. It tended to make people think that you were some sort of bad luck charm or omen or had some kind of curse. She wondered for a moment if maybe that was her problem, that somewhere along the way she had been cursed.  
“Yeah.” She gave them a half-smile, her eyes flashed in the semi-darkness. She thought of the video files that she had sitting in her pack on the skiff. She thought of the written and voice logs that they had made of their lives, having had no idea that someday their sister would come back from the beyond and watch them. “I made my peace with it though, and all I have of them are happy memories and an old photograph. So that makes it easier.”  
“Were they older than you?” Jack asked next, her eyes wide. She was genuinely interested in what Rehtaeh was telling her and since telling her these things distracted her from the hostile world outside; Rehtaeh was more than willing to share.   
“Septuplets. I am the fourth among seven. Three older, three younger.” Rehtaeh told her, leaning forward. “My father couldn’t have children, so we were in vitro babies. As far as I know, I have never met my biological father. There were technically three sets of twins and then myself. I just happened to push my way into the middle when it was time to leave the womb.”  
Suleiman leaned forward too; his eyes wide with curiosity, “How did they die?”  
“Suleiman, that is not appropriate.” Imam scolded him. His face flashed a warning even though he too seemed absolutely enthralled with what she was telling them.   
“Its fine, Imam. My life story is in the newspapers,” She said her voice shook a little as she thought about them again, then she pushed the pain away, it was not useful. Her brothers had died of old age over four hundred years earlier, she had video logs of them from the first day they reported for duty, to the last days when they were old and gray. The Alliance didn’t want anyone to know that so she told them the story that had been told to the press, suppressing the truth. “They died in a ship crash with their military unit.”   
“How awful!” Jack gasped; Imam looked at her with sadness and understanding. Riddick would have called her out on her lie, he was right, she was a horrible liar. She just smiled weakly and retreated back into herself and her real memories.   
“I am so sorry,” Suleiman said softly and bowed toward her. Her grief was mirrored in his dark eyes, they had both lost their brothers.  
“Yeah,” She whispered in the soft blue light. She looked down at the cell between her feet, hoping that her calculations were not wrong. “It sucks losing the people you love.”


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17  
Riddick  
He hadn’t thought that it would be so hard to leave them behind. He had taken one last glance into the cave before he left and he had seen Rehtaeh sitting in the very back in the darkest corner. She had met his eyes through the darkness and there was a brush of awareness between them. She had looked away from him first, a look of defeat, or maybe even disappointment. It damn near crushed him. He had been tempted to go back in there and haul her back out, but she was back to avoiding him again and he was tired of being on this rock. Freedom was so close and there was no way in hell he was going to allow that slip of a woman get to him. No matter how much he wanted her.  
He ran through the canyon with the cells, sliding in the mud, tripping over large rocks that rolled out from under his hands and feet. It was a painstaking journey just to get over the rise. The mud pulling at his feet and sucking him back down the hill. When he finally saw the settlement, lying in silent wait, he started to run. He was so close to reaching his goal, so why was he slowing down? Why was he thinking about going back? Shaking off the thoughts he pulled the cells around the buildings and to the hatch of the ship. Hauling them up the ramp. Rehtaeh had had more than enough time to make it here and go back for them. He expected the fourth cell to be sitting there, waiting for him.   
It wasn’t.   
“Rehtaeh, you conniving little-.” He couldn’t believe she played him. Him, of all people. He was sure he had her all figured out. She was sweet and naive. “If I have to go back there-.”  
‘Screw it,’ He thought. He would see if he could make this baby run on just the three cells. He hooked them all up and flicked the switches powering the primary systems on. Then he closed up the hatch and got to work. He sat in the chair and adjusted it for his height; trying to figure out if he had enough juice to fire up the main drive. Looking at the bars he was short, a lot short. If he tried to take off with so little power, he would burn up in the atmosphere. He punched the panel by the visor leaving a slight dent in the metal. That fucking Rehtaeh, what the hell had she done to pull the wool over his eyes? He could smell a lie a mile away, so how the hell did she get the one up on him? She had blindsided him, completely and totally.   
Macs words ran through his head. ‘Too damn smart for her own good.’ “Fuck! I should have seen this coming.”  
He dropped everything but the running lights, preparing to go back out into that mess of hostility and death; with more light so he could haul them all back to the skiff. He was just about to get up when he looked up to see Fry just outside the windshield of the ship, holding a glowing blue bottle. That was new, where had they found that source of light? She was gasping for breath and was soaked through and through. She looked at him for a long moment then went to the back of the skiff. He hit the dial to re-open the hatch and started down, towards her. He wondered what would happen if he toyed with her. How far would she go to save these people, would she take the bait if he tried to talk the captain into going with him?  
“Strong survival instinct, I like that in a woman,” Riddick told her. How long would it take for her to realize that they couldn’t leave without the fourth cell? How long before she realized that Rehtaeh was the one holding them here. “Not the woman I thought it would be, but you’ll do.”  
“I promised them that we would go back with more light.” She sounded infuriated. Her eyes had narrowed coldly at the mention of the other woman. What was this? Jealousy? Interesting.  
“Did you, hmm?” He held his arms out barring the entrance to the skiff. He had no intention of letting her by to take anything from the ship; and he sure as hell didn’t want her to see that the last cell was missing. Not yet.  
She threw the blue bottle down and called out over the rain, “What are you afraid?”  
He laughed at that, he wasn’t afraid, he just wasn’t interested in sacrificing himself to go back there. The paradox of it all; Rehtaeh had given him no choice in that matter. Damn her. “Me. Afraid?”  
“Come on, Riddick there’s got to be some part of you that wants to rejoin the human race?” She was taunting him now. His face dropped, that was a low blow. Every time his ‘human side’ popped up, someone he cared about ended up dying. He was best on his own. “The part of you that likes Rehtaeh maybe? The part that came back to help Jack?”  
He knelt down in the doorway, dismissing the part about Jack. Joining humanity was no longer an option he had burned those bridges long ago. He wondered briefly just what it would take for him to do that. His animal side was what hunted the moonlit blonde. His human side considered her something else, something he didn’t even want to think about. His human side was the side that regretted leaving her in the cave. Strangely it was the animal side that wanted to keep her by his side. Maybe she was the key to his humanity. “Truthfully I wouldn’t know how.”  
“Well then just give me more light and I’ll go back for them myself,” Carolyn told him, hotly. Figures she wouldn’t get it, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to, he had just never fit in with the constraints of normal society. No one really ever understood what it was like to fight just to survive. They didn’t think the same way as he did, they didn’t work the same way, and they always seemed to expect something more from him. What? He had no idea. Somehow he just couldn’t be who they wanted him to be, he was no hero and everyone he cared about ended up getting hurt.  
“Okay,” He tilted his head. He threw her his flashlights that he had hung up by the hatch when he had first entered the skiff. “There you go.”  
“Please just come with me,” She pleaded with him. She was actually hoping that he had a soft side? Did she not know who he was? There was nothing soft about him. Growing up in the penal system had wiped out any softness from a young age. “She’s there, waiting for you. Seems to think you’ll go back for them.”  
“Is that supposed to sway me? She could have come here herself if she wanted to leave this place so bad.” Rehtaeh could have been there waiting for him with her cell and left the others. She was still very connected to her human side and wanted to save the others. Why? She was a survivor like him.   
“What’s your problem, Riddick? Is she too willing for you? Is that it?” Carolyn taunted him darkly, caving to the rumors that he was a rapist, as well as a murderer. He wasn’t. “She told me right out that she loved you, and then she turned around and said she wasn’t all that special. Can you believe that Riddick? She, the dignitary’s daughter is not good enough for the murderer.”  
“Bullshit!” Riddick growled at her.  
“You’re right it is bullshit. She is better than you. She believes in you.” Carolyn was trying to guilt him into going back with her. “Come back with me, prove to her you are worth it.”  
“She’s naïve. I want my freedom more than I want her body.” Riddick looked at the pilot and he felt the lie as he spoke it. He wanted the woman alright, enough to have gone back for her even without the cell as an incentive. What the hell was it about her? “I got a better idea, come with me.”  
“You’re fucking with me, I know you are.” She looked at him, the temptation in her face, she looked wanting into the interior of the skiff, and he saw the desire for an escape in her eyes. He could see the uncertainty in every line of Carolyn’s body.  
“You know I am?” Riddick stood back up making his face go cold. “You don’t know anything about me. I will leave you here. Step inside.”  
“I can’t.” She whispered. She was crying now and it was easy to sweet-talk her into climbing up to the top of the ramp. She had just about reached the top of the ramp when he heard the beasts beginning to close in on them. They were coming from the same direction as the cave, the cell, and Rehtaeh. ‘If something happened to her-,’He thought as he turned in their direction and growled. He heard Carolyn’s enraged scream and turned towards her as she suddenly turned on him, leaping from the top of the ramp, screaming in a pained rage. Her momentum knocked them both to the ground, him on his back and her on top of him.  
“Now you! You listen to me!” she screamed above the downpour, all of her rage was at the surface. Her arms were pinned on his shoulders; she was trying to press her weight into him to keep him down. “I am the captain of this ship and I am not leaving anyone on this rock with those fucking things, even if it means-.”  
He growled and easily flipped her over his head and spun to his feet pulling her between his knees, his shiv rested on her throat.   
She protested hotly, “Get that thing off my ne-.”  
“Shut up! You would die for them?” He asked her coldly.  
“I would try for them!” She responded it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.  
“You didn’t answer me.” He growled at her, pressing the shiv a little deeper.   
“Yes I would, Riddick, I would.” She looked up at him, the rain hitting her face hard and she was trying to breathe without drowning. “I would die for them.”  
“Even her? Even Rehtaeh?” Riddick taunted her.  
“Even her,” Carolyn glared at him through the falling rain.  
“How interesting.” He took off his goggles and looked down at her. “Lucky for you, I was just about to head in that direction.”  
He helped her back to her feet and grabbed another light. She looked almost longingly into the skiff, then she noticed the power cells and she started to laugh. “I knew it! You were messing with me! She screwed you over! I might not know you Riddick, but someone on this rock sure does. She tried to tell me, but I just wouldn’t listen.”  
She picked up the lights from the ground and they headed back to the cave together. It took a helluva lot less time to get there than it had to make it to the ship, considering it was mostly downhill. Finally at the mouth of the cave, Riddick pushed the stone out of the way.  
“Never had a doubt,” Jack said with a smile as the fear on her face turned to one of joy at seeing her hero return. She limped out to give Carolyn a hug, her leg had been wrapped in a makeshift cast and she was putting her weight on it gingerly, she would be able to run.  
Imam and his boy were standing as well. They stepped out of the cave and into the rain getting ready to leave; all that left was Rehtaeh. She sat leaning forward over the last power cell. “You thought I froze again?”  
“You played me. Made me think that you had taken the cell to the ship.” Riddick growled at her. She was sitting there soaking wet in her stained red shirt. The fabric clinging to her frame accentuating her large breasts and tiny muscular waist, her bright blonde hair looked almost white in the artificial light. She was glowering up at him through the strands of that hair. He was stalking towards her and not only did she not flinch, she didn’t move.  
“Strategy play, Riddick. I saw it more as an Insurance Policy.” Came Rehtaeh’s whispered reply, a small smile lifted her lips as she picked up the cell and stood. She reminded him of the cat who ate the canary, smug achievement in every nuance. “You have been playing games with me since we crashed, Riddick. Normally I like games, but when it comes to my life and the lives of others, I play to win. Losing is not an option. I will do damn near anything to make sure I survive.”  
“And everything else?” Riddick got close, very close.   
“I am a horrible liar Riddick, you said it yourself. I just let you assume I was naïve and easy to fool.” He affected her just as she affected him. Her eyes were heating up, just as her flesh was. He could see the goose bumps that had suddenly covered her flesh and through the wet t-shirt he could see the effect he had on her body. “You were so intent on your own escape, that you forgot how much I want mine. I knew you would ditch us at the first opportunity, you value only one thing, Riddick.”  
“Oh? And what’s that?” Riddick sneered at her.  
“Your own ass.” Rehtaeh looked him directly in the eye as she said it, daring him to deny it. “Always up for a good game, but you’ll cut and run if there is a better deal waiting around the corner.”  
“You have trust issues, Rehtaeh,” Riddick growled at her.   
“Being locked in a Cryo Cell, having every part of your body violated, tends to do that to a person.” She countered; her voice was one of barely leashed rage. “Now, let’s get off this fucking rock.”  
“I’ll take that.” Riddick reached for the cell. This was the second mention of some torment she had suffered. He didn’t like the idea of her being touched by someone other than him. He would have to find out what she meant about that. She reeked of blood now, her own blood, he could smell it. Other than her hands which looked as though they were clotted he saw no wounds.  
“No, no I don’t think you will.” She pressed her lips together. Her eyes narrowed in determination and shook her head, sliding the ropes back onto her shoulders. Her shoulders, he could see the darker red on her shoulders and the blood began to spread. She had torn herself apart in this little scheme of hers and he found himself angry that she had. He moved towards her to take the cell and she held up her hand to him and growled protectively, fiercely, “I can handle it. You just get these people to the skiff. Kaydokee?”  
He could almost hear her say ‘like you were supposed to in the first place.’ She didn’t say it, not out loud, but it was written in the glare she shot at him as she brushed past him. ‘Bloody headstrong, frustrating, intelligent, beautiful little woman.’ He thought as she sidled past him her tiny frame just barely having to duck through the cavern door. He followed her out admiring the sway of her muscular behind in her tight wet jeans.   
“You are going to pay for this.” He growled lowly behind her back. The group was waiting for him in the light just outside the cave.  
“Maybe later, we have shit to do first,” Rehtaeh countered saucily.   
“Anybody not ready for this?” Riddick asked them all.   
“There is my God, Mr. Riddick.” Imam responded.   
“Nice move, Rehtaeh.” He heard Carolyn tell Rehtaeh; her response was a small smirk that hovered over her soft lips as she met the other woman’s eyes. “I should have listened.”  
“Yes, well, we all have our stubborn streaks, don’t we? Let’s just get a move on!” Rehtaeh was chomping at the bit. She could have left that cave at any time and headed to the skiff, probably unmolested, and yet she had stayed behind for everyone else. She met his eye and quirked a brow. She drew he second gun and clicked the safety off.   
“How many rounds you got left?” Looking at the piece in her hands, she held it like it was an old friend. She was very comfortable around guns.   
“Seven. Gotta make ‘em count. Why you wanna take it? I thought you preferred your shiv.” She flipped the safety back on spun it and handed it to him.   
Riddick looked at the gun for a moment before he looked at her thoughtfully, “Keep it. How do you know I prefer my shiv?”   
“The way you hold it, handle it like its part of your body. You are comfortable with a blade.” Rehtaeh told him, her eyes traveling to the deep pocket where the handmade knife lay hidden. “It is the intimacy isn’t it?”  
“Like your gun gives you distance?” Riddick asked her, he was trying to figure her out; he had yet to see her use a weapon other than the gun.  
“Oh no, I enjoy the intimacy of a knife as much as I like the control of a gun, I am proficient with both.” Rehtaeh repositioned her gun in her palm and flipped the safety off and prepped for the run then she looked up at him with a small smile and a distant look in her eyes. “But neither of them are my favorite weapon. No, if I had had my favorite weapon, this would have been much more fun. We’d probably be dead, but at least I would die happy.”  
They ran down the canyon, slipping in the mud and stumbling over the rocks. Riddick figured that Rehtaeh would fall behind because of the extra weight on her back, but she was steady on her feet. Whatever fatigue had been bothering her before had disappeared with the burst of adrenaline he could smell coming off of her. Suleiman stayed close to Jack, keeping her moving and helping her run when her leg would give out. The boy really seemed to be concerned about the welfare of the girl. They reached a narrow portion of the canyon, right before the outlet; there were some beasts in the area blocking the way. Riddick waited until the space between them widened just a bit. Riddick held out his hand to Carolyn, who in turn took Jack’s and so on until the entire group was holding onto one another. Then they made their break for it. The beasts scattered when they felt the approaching lights. When they got to the hill, he was yelling at them all to Go, and not stop. They were stumbling and sliding around, trying to reach the top.   
When he was sure that Rehtaeh was gonna be the slowest, he found her crouched in the mud, using both arms and legs to plow herself up the hill, military style. She made it to the top right after Carolyn, before Jack and Suleiman. She turned back with her hands outstretched so she could haul the kids to the top. He saw the look on her face and he realized then why she had stayed behind. The woman had a soft spot for kids. Once they were at the top Suleiman resumed helping Jack, Imam took her other arm and together they ran for safety. Carolyn called out to her telling Rehtaeh to get the cell to the skiff. Instead, she stopped and looked at him with a question on her face; she was not going to leave him behind.   
“Go Rehtaeh!” He growled at her and she frowned at him. Finally, the girl’s survival instincts must have kicked in because she turned and ran full out for the ship following behind the pilot. They disappeared over the rise and around the buildings.   
He came up last making sure that the others made it away from the raptors that he could hear closing in. As he topped the rise a Bio-raptor landed just below him and he scrambled back and ran for it, it was a race to get away from the monsters. Ducking between the buildings, he made his way through the settlement, trying to get to the skiff. He was just about to come out of the alleyway when one of the beasts landed in front of him. Its tall, wiry body twisted and turned as it tried to sense where its prey had gotten to. He ran to get into its blind spot. It started ducking and weaving, trying to find him in the narrow alley. For several long seconds, they danced this way, Riddick mirroring every move the beast made. It’s horrifying maw opening and closing inches away from his face, the sharp teeth glinted ominously in the dim light. Finally, it turned away, Riddick dropped low, to keep from being detected.   
Then another one landed on the other side of the little alley. There were now two of them. There was no way he could stay in both of their blind spots. He heard blasts from a gun further away in the complex, and he knew that Rehtaeh was taking care of problems of her own. He pulled his shiv and was about to take a swipe when the second one shot him in the shin with its serrated bone blade, he dropped to the ground and screamed in pain. Launching himself at the first one, he took a swing, trying to go for its soft underbelly, and missed, it tried to snap at him, but he kept it at bay. Finally, he finished it off with several cutting blows to the neck. The second beast was on top of him moments later, trying to go for the soft parts. Riddick held him off for a long moment, screaming in exertion.   
There was an explosion of gunfire behind the beast, and the monster fell away. He looked over the carcass and he saw Rehtaeh materialize out of the darkness at the far end of the alley, her gun pointed in his direction. He shook his head he must be seeing things due to blood loss, she had no legs. She holstered the weapon and pulled out the pair of knives that she had hidden in her boots, then she slowly backed away from the beast that was stalking her on the far side of the building.   
He heard Carolyn calling his name, her voice sounded distance so when he felt something come near him he made a blind swing. It was her, it was Carolyn. He was wounded badly, his leg bleeding everywhere. He moved to the side, he needed a minute to rest. She came for him and tried helping him stand, but she couldn’t carry his weight.   
“Come on, Riddick, Stand up! Get Up!” She was yelling at him as she tried to get him moving.  
“I said I would die for them, not you, so let’s move.” She told him softly. She pulled him to standing position and was pulling him along. He was doing his best just to hold on; when all of a sudden she gasped in pain. They stood looking into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Then she was pulled away, the beast flying up and into the darkness, its serrated blade impaling her through the belly and the three clawed fingers clutched around her torso. There was a primal scream from behind Carolyn’s retreating body. Riddick fell to his knees, looking up into the darkness where she had disappeared.   
“Not for me,” he whispered, still searching. Then in anguish he yelled, “Not for me!”   
“Carolyn!” Rehtaeh’s voice whispered through the darkness. He blinked and looked up. Somehow she had managed to get to Carolyn before the beast carried her away. There was something odd about the way the darkness seemed to be a little thicker around her. It was as though the shadows caressed her skin. Rehtaeh knelt over the other woman lying on the ground, the spiked bone protruding from her stomach. She hacked away at the clawed foot; hacking it away from the pilot’s body until only the spiked bone remained. Her look of anguish mirrored the one he felt. “Carolyn, you listen to me. You are not done. We just have to get back to the skiff.”  
“Rehtaeh, I am sorry,” Carolyn whispered to her, her voice raw with pain. She was fading in and out of consciousness.  
“Don’t you fucking give up, Carolyn. Don’t you dare!” Rehtaeh growled. She wrapped her arms through Carolyn’s and braced her steadily before pulling the woman into a circle of light near Riddick, then she turned and walked back to where the pilot had fallen and picked up Mac’s knife from the mud.   
Rehtaeh stood and turned towards him. She was in bad shape too, her long blonde hair hanging in matted clumps around her face, blood dripping from a gash along her hairline, and the reopened cuts on her hands. She had started towards him when suddenly a beast dropped from the sky its claws wrapped around her upper arms lifting her into the air. She screamed in rage, arched her back and wrapped her legs around its neck and twisted. Its neck broke and they both fell to the ground, he heard a pained grunt as she landed hard on her back, the large beast on top of her. She was just pushing the monster off of her when another leapt on top, stepping on her thigh, there was a slick crack as her hip popped out of place. She cried out in agonized pain.   
Riddick hauled himself to his feet, trying to get to her and Carolyn. Rehtaeh whipped out one of the blades she had in her boot and started hacking at its leg, the beast screamed in its own agony. As the maw snapped towards her body she buried the knife into the underside of its jaw, right to the hilt embedding the blade as far as it would go. Then she twisted it and pulled the knife out. The beast fell to the side with a scream, but it was not dead. It shook off the injury and moved to attack her again. Riddick pounced on it using his weight to pull it off of her. He hacked at its neck with his shiv until he severed the head from the body. He rolled the other beast off of her and for a long moment she laid there in the mud and looked up at him, rain falling on her face, whimpering in pain. Her breaths were shallow, her chest rising and falling with overexertion.  
He leaned down reaching for her, intending to help her with her leg. She growled at him as she lifted her other leg and rolled, pushing the dislocated bone back into place with a snap and crunch. She took several gasping breaths trying not to scream in pain, trying not to lure more monsters to them. He held out his hand to help her to her feet. They stood there looking at each other for several long minutes. She was a warrior with the blue blood from the dead raptors mixing with the red blood from the cut on her forehead, three deep claw marks on each arm that gave her a painted effect. The knife in her hand was dripping blue and red gore into the mud beneath her feet. She wiped the blade on her jeans and tucked it back into her boot.  
“Riddick,” She whispered as she leaned into him, and he leaned into her.   
Together they limped toward Carolyn, who was just starting to come back to awareness. She cried out in pain as they helped her to her feet and they carried her to the skiff. It took forever but finally they made it back to the light. They took Carolyn up the ramp and on board. Suleiman and Imam helped get Carolyn into a cryo seat and Rehtaeh pulled out her extra clothing cutting it up to make bandages for Carolyn.   
It was mere minutes before they were up and running. Imam told him that when Rehtaeh had first arrived back at the ship and given the pilot the fourth cell, Carolyn had immediately attached the final cell and prepped the ship for flight. They had been waiting for him when they had heard him scream, the two women agreed to split up to search for him. Rehtaeh had headed in one direction and Carolyn in the other, both had had the intention of finding him and bringing him back and issue a signal when they got him back to the skiff. Both women had risked their lives to go after him.  
Riddick was sitting at the controls, and Jack was beside him in the co-pilot’s seat. Imam and Suleiman were sitting in cryo seats behind Riddick. Rehtaeh was sitting beside Carolyn using her extra clothing to support the blade that was impaling her and bandaging her up to try to stop the bleeding. She was completely ignoring her own wounds. The cuts in her arms were deep, she was losing too much blood. Finally, once everyone was strapped into a seat Riddick made the final preparations to lift off. He flicked the main switches and started pulling the thrusters when he got an idea. He dropped the throttle back and turned off the switches, the skiff was bathed in darkness. It was pitch black and the scent of their blood was thick on the air, Riddick waited several minutes for it to draw the creatures in.   
“Can we just get the hell out of here now?” Jack asked, the terror in her voice was evident. She was scared and exhausted and just wanted to feel safe. Safe away from monsters. He could see them gathering in the darkness around the ship, dozens of them scenting out their blood.  
“We can’t leave,” Riddick told the girl. He waited for a few more moments until one of the beasts jumped right onto the hull trying to take a bite out of the windshield, “Without saying good night.”   
He flicked all the switches again, bringing everything up to full power, pulled the throttle and they burst into the air, the flame from the propulsion units, scorching the beasts that had gathered around them. They plowed into dozens of the creatures as they soared up into the atmosphere before finally bursting into space.   
Once everything settled, Jack adjusted her seat belt and looked over at him. “There will be a lot of questions, whoever we run into, could even be a Merc ship. So what the hell do we tell them about you?”  
Riddick looked at her for a long moment before he said, “Tell ‘em Riddick’s dead. He died somewhere on that planet.”


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18  
Rehtaeh Riddick hit the throttle and they were off, she was trying to keep Carolyn from falling over or putting too much force on the blade that was impaling her when the G-force hit her. It was instantaneous. Rehtaeh snapped off her belt and launched herself upwards towards Jack’s chair, the angle of the skiff making the motion forward almost impossible. Her injuries were not helping at all either. As far as Rehtaeh was concerned, she needed a window and she needed it yesterday.  
“What the hell, Rehtaeh!” Jack cried out at the sudden jerk on the back of her seat as Rehtaeh pulled herself up to the bridge.  
“Sorry, I need a window during launch,” Rehtaeh squeezed out as she tried to breathe through the sudden nausea that gripped her. She was staring out the visor, watching monsters hit the shield as they rocketed up into the atmosphere. Finally, they were in space, the ship settled into a steady hum, and the little craft leveled out. She watched for a moment as the stars passed by in the distance.  
“What was that about?” Riddick growled as Rehtaeh made it back to her seat.  
“I get motion sick on take-offs and landings. Unless I can see, that is. As long as I can see where I am going, I am fine.” Rehtaeh told him. She hated seeming weak, and this was a weakness that she had never been able to overcome. She sat in her seat taking deep steadying breaths as her stomach stopped roiling and flipping. Rehtaeh sat on the bench beside Carolyn keeping an eye on her. She had wrapped strips of cloth around the protruding bone, to prevent it from moving around too much and then bandaged it in place to slow the bleeding. Luckily there hadn’t been much movement during the takeoff and she was still in the position that Rehtaeh had put her in. The woman was stable and in a great deal of pain, if they could get her to a medic soon she would have a chance at survival.  
Having used most of her clothing on Carolyn’s wounds, she had Imam use her hand wraps to bandage the ragged wounds on her arms. She needed stitches, but that wasn’t likely to happen on this skiff. There was no first aid kit available and as far as she had found there was no sewing supplies either. Riddick’s leg was pretty messed up, but all attempts by Imam, Suleiman or Jack to help him bandage it had been harshly rebuffed. She pulled her backpack onto the seat beside her. Other than her underwear, which she was not sharing with anyone, she had only had her gym strip and a pair of jeans. She also had her long flannel sleep shirt and she was reluctant to give it up to anyone, her mother had made it for her. It was the last thing she had from her mom. Instead, she pulled out her ruined t-shirt from earlier in the day then walked to the front of the skiff and dropped it onto Riddick’s lap.  
“The front is destroyed, but the back side is clean, I don’t care if it gets ruined, so use it to clean yourself up.” She told him before turning away. He grabbed her wrist and stopped her.  
“You’re not going to offer to do it?” He asked her quietly. Heat shot up her arm like an electric current.  
“No, I figured if you needed help, you would ask for it.” She looked down at him trying not to let him get to her.  
He ran his fingers up the bandages on her upper arms, the wounds underneath smarted under the light touch. “How are your ribs?”  
“Worse than before, but you knew that,” Rehtaeh told him. The three ribs she had broken earlier in the day was now more like six or eight. Her entire torso throbbed and each breath was a struggle. She hadn’t even looked at the bruises; she couldn’t imagine that they were pretty. The scraped and blistered skin on her shoulders couldn’t be very appealing either. She knew that she was in rough shape. She pulled back when he lifted her hem, but he growled at her to stay still and pulled it right up revealing a mass of purple and black bruises that covered most of her torso. “You take care of your wounds and I will take care of mine. I am fine.”  
“Right, and I’m a saint,” Riddick growled, his reaction was confusing her. He was angry with her now, for what? All she had done, she did to survive. So what the hell was his problem?  
“Don’t act like you suddenly care, Riddick.” She warned him narrowing her eyes. He was the one who would have ditched her at the drop of a hat. He had no right to get all protective now.  
“Rehtaeh,” her name sounded like a warning on his lips.  
“Riddick,” She growled back, tugging on her shirt with little effect.  
“Holy shit, Rehtaeh!” Jack cried looking at her from her spot on the co-pilot seat, her eyes had gone wide, with a look of pure horror. “What the hell happened to you? How long have you been bruised like that.”  
“Since the crash this morning,” Rehtaeh whispered, she turned bright red, mortified by the attention. She tried tugging her shirt back down. Riddick growled at her and she glared back at him. She was not going to bow to him, it didn’t matter how injured she was. It didn’t matter how her body reacted to him. She could not allow him to dominate her like that again. She was no weak little princess. He was running his hands gently over her ribs to make sure none were out of place, the pressure of his gentle touch aggravated the pain and she couldn’t stop the whimper as it escaped her throat. “I just need rest. I will be fine.”  
“And these? Were they worth it Rehtaeh?” He growled at her. She could almost feel the rage that he was directing at her, as he reached up and pulled the wrecked collar of her shirt off of her shoulders baring the raw flesh hidden underneath. Jack mumbled something about being sick. Riddick pulled the collar further away revealing more and more damage. He hissed at what he saw, pulling her closer so he could inspect the damage. “Why didn’t you tell me how bad it was?”  
“Like you would have cared? You were ready to leave me behind. The last thing I was going to do was show weakness. That would have broken the rules.” His gentle touch brushed against the open blister on her shoulder and she winced and stepped away. “Hell yes, it was worth it. I am alive aren’t I? And so are they.”  
“You could have just come with me,” Riddick growled quietly, he was contesting her decision to save the others. He would have preferred to leave them all behind.  
“Not without everyone else.” Rehtaeh looked at him and glanced at Jack, who was hanging on every word. Would she ever get it through to him that disregarding human life was the same as murder? She was not a murderer. She would kill in self-defense or if survival warranted, but she could not abide the deaths of innocent lives. From the look on his face, he was going to continue the argument. “Stop, Riddick. Just stop.”  
“Go to sleep,” Riddick told her, his goggled eyes looked up at her bared ones. Then he turned back to the console, dismissing her.  
She pulled away, away from him and his confusing attitude and its dizzying effect on her. She pulled her shirt back into place as she went back to her seat beside Carolyn and grabbed her pack. She plopped it onto one seat and leaned against it using the bag as a pillow. The only problem was that now that most of her clothing was gone, the bag was not really comfortable to lean on. The books in it offered more support for her back and ribs than the uncomfortable chairs. She reached into the pocket of the pack and grabbed her black glasses. The gray ones had been lost during her scuffle with the monsters when she had gone in search of Riddick at the compound. She placed them over her eyes, making it easier for her to fall asleep in the already too bright skiff. She closed her eyes and let everything fade to darkness.  
There were people at war, men in black leather, shooting, killing and destroying. People were running from the tall ships, soldiers fighting soldiers, men fighting monsters. The flags were being torn down as though they were worthless rags. She was fighting a tall man, a dark man, and he was strong.  
“Who are you?” He asked her, and her answer was always the same. “I am the sister time forgot, the heart of seven. I am red on black.”  
He caught her and killed her, his sharp dagger slicing through her throat like butter. She saw her coffin, a gothic black box in a black room. A single blood red rose was lying on top of the casket. She floated down from above and looked inside. The top of the box had turned to glass, she could see her body. It was turning to ashes and dust while she watched. When she looked up, she was in the cemetery, as her gothic coffin was being lowered into the ground. There were stones all around her, all of them had her family name on them, and they were all hers. She had died over and over and over again. And as she looked out over her cemetery, she knew she would have to try again. Try to live one more time.  
She gasped into wakefulness, the lights in the skiff were flashing in warning. Riddick was hitting switches trying to get the ship to respond.  
“Hull breach contained.” The ship's artificial intelligence stated over the com system.  
“Engines running at one hundred and seventy percent capacity.” He pulled on the throttle and pushed more buttons.  
“Engine and hull failure imminent at current parameters.” As Riddick handled the ship, Rehtaeh wondered if it was her luck or his that had pulled them both into this tailspin of hell. “Critical systems failure in five seconds, Four seconds, Three seconds, Two seconds, One second.”  
One more switch and everything went dark.  
She was still trying to figure out what had happened while she was sleeping when Riddick looked at Jack. “First you’re a boy, then you’re a girl, and now you’re a psychic, careful what you wish for Jack.”  
Then it dawned on her, a Merc ship, “Unidentified craft, state your purpose and your contents.”  
A voice came over the com system. Riddick made no move to reply. He just looked at the system, like he was trying to figure out a way out of this new situation. They repeated the command twice more before Riddick triggered the com device and spoke. “Names Johns. My ship got scrapped on a transport run. The only other survivors from the whole mess are with me, outside of that we got nothing.”  
“Tell me, Mr. Johns, what brings you to this lonely corner of space?” They were fishing. ‘Hell they already had us on their line from the feel of it, so what the fuck was this new game?’ Rehtaeh thought.  
“I’m a bounty hunter,” Riddick told him.  
“Then it appears we have something in common.” The voice said and then there was nothing but disconnected silence.  
There were some odd squeaking and creaking coming from the hull of the ship, and Rehtaeh felt a chill of trepidation run up her spine. Then there was a tugging sensation and Rehtaeh was jerked forward at the change of momentum. Her stomach lurched at the sudden change in direction. Backward was never a good direction to go. Her stomach didn’t like it one bit. She turned to face the rear of the ship and took deep breaths, trying in vain to make her nausea go away. It wasn’t working and she moaned holding her head between her knees, “Oh, not good. Not good.”  
“They’re reeling us in!” Jack exclaimed in shock and fear.  
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” She retorted tartly, as she struggled to hold the bile down. She turned and dropped her feet to the floor and moaned in pain. Sleeping on the lumpy bench had definitely not helped her bones and wounds; they ached worse than they had before. Shaking off the motion sickness she picked up her pack and grunted as she pulled it onto her back. Then she picked up her glasses from where they had fallen during her sleep. She tried to stand, to prepare for whatever was coming. That small effort caused her to start panting and sweating, she was not doing very well. She felt feverish, her heart was racing, and she was so hungry that her stomach felt as though it were eating itself. This was very, very bad. She sat back down. “Any great ideas to get us out of this one alive? Cause I got nothing.”  
“Here you’re going to need this.” Riddick handed her the remains of the t-shirt she had offered him before she had gone to sleep, she looked at it for a long moment and then looked back at him. She was confused as to why she would possibly need a torn and bloody shirt. She caught a familiar whiff of the scent and brought it to her nose. Her brow furrowed in confusion and she pulled it open and looked at it. It was still covered in May’s blood though the back had been hacked off, there was an overbearing scent that rocked her. She shook her head and sniffed an area that was covered in the blood. It smelled so familiar, it stirred memories of when her mother had cut her hand with a kitchen knife and they had taken her to the doctor to get stitches. She clenched the shirt in her hand and took another breath. May smelled so much like her mom. Not just May, but her blood smelled like her mother’s blood.  
Tearing her eyes away from the dirty rag, she watched as Riddick stood and moved to the back of the ship and rummaged around in a cabinet. He grabbed a cutting torch and lit it with the lighter he had taken off of Johns when the torches had been passed around. Using the cutting torch, he began heating up the fire extinguisher located on the roof trying to set it off. Perhaps if she knew more about the tech in this day and age, she would understand what safety properties this tactic would provide them. As it was, she wasn’t sure what chemical properties could possibly be used in fire retardant or how filling up the cabin with the stuff would be beneficial. Rehtaeh had no idea what he was planning or how this idea of his was going to work, all she could do was wait for instruction.  
She moved to Carolyn and shook her awake. The woman gasped in pain but didn’t cry out. “Come on Carolyn, were in trouble, we need to be able to move.”  
“I can take her. Keep her safe.”Suleiman’s thick accent made her jump as he stepped beside her and looked down at the severely injured woman.  
“Okay.” Rehtaeh nodded. There was no way she would be able to take care of her, not with her own wounds, and the danger that they might be facing. The boy was uninjured and able bodied. “Carolyn, you stay with Suleiman. He will keep you safe, just stay awake. Okay?”  
“Yes, Ma’am,” Carolyn said softly, the pain in her voice made it sound strained and weak. Rehtaeh could imagine that the usually feisty woman was feeling pretty small at the moment. “I am sorry Rehtaeh, I have been such a bitch to you.”  
“No, you were doing what you thought was right.” Rehtaeh met her eye, then she turned back to watch Riddick as he heated up the sensor in the fire extinguisher. She wondered for a moment if it was faulty, it had been burning for a long time, by her count.  
“No offense but I don’t think that’s gonna cut it against whatever is coming for us,” Jack said, she too was completely clueless as to what might happen next or why Riddick might have figured this was a viable plan.  
He held the torch there for several more minutes. Then as it erupted from the spigot, Riddick told them, “Hold your breath.”  
Rehtaeh pulled her ragged t-shirt up over her nose and waited for the foamy substance to close in then she took as big of a breath as her broken ribs would allow. From that second on everything was agony, holding her breath caused her ribs and diaphragm to cramp up. She was cold and wet once again, and the extinguisher foam was slimy and thick on top of it. There was an explosion at the rear of the ship and she was sucked out with a speed that made her head spin and her stomach turn. Not being able to breathe was bad enough. She could feel the warmth of Riddick moving through the foamy mass. She knew where Jack and Imam were, they felt cold and they were moving, thrashing about trying to get to fresh air. Suleiman had pushed Carolyn lower to the ground, toward the safety of the underbelly of the ship.  
Her senses were all muffled. Only her A.D.S. seemed to be working properly. There were strangers with them, but as soon as they were in her perception they faded away. Riddick was killing them inside the foam. Jack and Imam went to the edge to take air and Rehtaeh could hear gunshots from the outside. Then she felt Riddick’s presence leave, he had pushed himself out of the foam. Suleiman had taken Carolyn under the skiff and they were hiding there away from the firefight. Rehtaeh used the buffer that the wet rag allowed and took a moist breath, trying to stay hidden in the center of the mass. The foam smelled as horrid as it felt and the wetness of the air irritated her lungs in the worst way. She started to cough, she couldn’t breathe and even using the rag as a buffer wasn’t helping at all, she needed to get out of this. She could feel the Mercs reaching into the foam trying to pull out the survivors, she could feel them reaching for her. She couldn’t stay here where she couldn’t protect herself properly.  
She swam through the foam to an area where she felt no human presence, and she reached her hands out hitting the hull of their skiff. She pulled herself up and she flew upwards out of the bubble into the zero gravity chamber. There were Mercs everywhere, she could feel them but not see them. The foam had coated her glasses, and wiping at them just made the smearing of the goop worse. She was gliding up to the roof when she felt them above her. Two Mercs were sitting there waiting for her. Unable to stop her momentum she nearly collided with them as she made for the perceived safety of the ceiling. The two Mercs made a grab for her and she used her A.D.S. to fight them off, she pulled the knives from her boots and struck out at one, aiming for the beat of his heart. The other was reaching for her hair as the first one fell away, his heart no longer beating. As her head was pulled back by the Merc, she struck wildly to where she perceived his head and neck to be. She felt the knife bite into the flesh, and the man screamed in pain and rage and hit her with the butt of his weapon. Pain sliced through the back of her head and she yelped loudly. He made the move again and she swung her blade blindly toward his torso. He screamed again and fell away, her blade made a sucking noise as she pulled it back out.  
She slid the knives back into their secret scabbards and pulled off her glasses. She squinted in the overly bright light searching for a place she could take cover. There was dark area up by a vent attached high on the walls. She pushed towards it and clung there for an extended moment, wiping at her eyes and cleaning her glasses, the intensity of the white light made her eyes water. She had just gotten her glasses back on when someone came at her from behind, she pulled the blades back out and turned on them before she even saw them out of her peripheral vision. She could feel the fucker, and she gutted him, it had been purely instinctual and had not even thought about taking his life. Finally turning towards him she saw the person fall back and away. It was a large man, a large dirty man, and his entrails had burst out of his abdomen. He was screaming in pain. There was a massive slash mark across his face; she was confused, how many men had come after her? Regardless the idiot hadn’t gotten the message the first time. She shook it off and finally got a decent look at her surroundings.  
They were in a massive docking bay. Their ship was the only one in the cavernous room, and she could see the winch and the anchor that had grabbed their skiff. The poor little ship was severely damaged, taking hits from the beasts as they left that horrifying little planet. The anchor had nearly taken the wing off with its sudden direction change and now the rapid gunfire had plugged a variety of small holes in it as the Mercs went after their little group of survivors.  
She put the knives in her boots she really didn’t want to kill people. Trying to stay quiet and blend into the darkness, she kept herself hidden. Watching from her perch on the roof, she witnessed Riddick take out Merc after Merc. She really had not gotten to see him in action yet, he was graceful, catlike, a predator. He was everything she had thought he would be and then some. He sliced at them, stabbed them in the back, the neck, heart, or abdomen and used the unpressurized atmosphere to his advantage. He used his shiv was well as the weapons he took from the fallen Mercs to kill anyone who came at him. Allowing his momentum to drive him to his next victim, he gutted the Merc and grabbed his gun to take down the next Merc. He propelled himself after another man that was shooting at the foam bubble which still hid Imam and Jack. He took that man out with his shiv and used his body as a shield when a gun was turned on him.  
“You certainly know how to make an entrance.” A man in a long white coat and green tinted sunglasses said as Riddick killed yet another Merc. He was an ugly man, he had a very angular face, small dark eyes hidden behind green sunglasses and overlarge lips under a small squashed nose. His only favorable attributes were that he was tall and muscular. There was something about him that put Rehtaeh immediately on high alert.  
“That’s nothing scarecrow, he’s gonna kick your ass so-.” Jack started and then mercifully Imam pulled the insolent girl back into the foam, cutting off her insult. Rehtaeh swore quietly, the girl was gonna get herself killed one day. Two Mercs spun towards her voice and came after her, up in her hiding spot. She could feel them closing in on her, she was thrown by the sensation that hit her. Her senses picked up the cold presence of one and a heat presence from the other. In all her years, she had never met more than one compatible person, since waking from Cryo she had met two. The woman was cold and incompatible, she came at Rehtaeh first. Aiming her weapon at Rehtaeh’s heart, thinking that the gun would intimidate her quarry, Rehtaeh had other plans. She wasn’t easily intimidated, and basic training had taught her to respond to being held at gunpoint. Instead of backing down Rehtaeh hit her hard in the nose, and then again in the throat crushing the woman’s windpipe. She used the woman’s backward momentum and shoved her into the man using the woman’s body as a diversion to dive toward the top of their skiff.  
The man came at her with knives and she had no choice but to draw both of hers. It did not matter that the man was compatible with her; he was trying to kill her or capture her, which made him the enemy. They were circling when the man in the long white coat landed on top of Jack, pinning her beneath him and putting some sort of bayonet to the teen’s forehead. “I think not. What do you say?”  
“Call off your lap dog before his trying to impress you gets him killed,” Riddick growled holding his shiv to the throat of another Merc.  
“Am I so obvious?” A new voice asked from above. Rehtaeh stilled, looking at the source of the new voice. It was a woman covered in a white cloak. The woman had removed her hood, revealing her beautiful face and long, lithe body. She had wide-set green eyes and full lips in a heart shaped face. Her hair was even lighter than Rehtaeh’s, almost pure white. She had some sort of golden jewelry on her head, it was either implanted in her skin above her eyebrows going up into her hairline or she had it weaved into her hair somehow. Rehtaeh thought it looked idiotic, she had seen tons of people with all sorts of piercings and body mods, some of them she even thought were beautiful. But these things just detracted from the captain’s beauty.  
Her clothing was just as bad, she wore a long skin tight cream colored dress with patches of accents in black and gold. It had bat wing sleeves and high angled shoulder accents that made her look wider than she was. They reminded her of the sensors on the Bio-Raptors from T2. The collar was fitted to her throat, covering everything up to her jaw, which would have spoken of modesty, except for the cut outs that gave away everything worth concealing. There were open patches on her shoulders, a triangle cut out on her chest that showed off her ample cleavage, and then two more on each side of her waist. Rehtaeh figured the outfit would be considered high fashion, but to her simple tastes, the woman just looked ridiculous.  
She could still feel the Merc circle her and seeing her apparent distraction he came at her, she turned and blocked the blow coming at her head from behind and struck with one of her own. She hit the man square in the jaw but he countered with a sudden elbow to her ribs, and she screamed in agony. She felt the damage as it was done. She would have healed just fine before if he had just left her alone. Now she was at death's door, her lung punctured. He had her then, he pulled her back against his chest, his blade at her throat. Her left hand and blade pinned back. She moved the knife in her right hand and angled it at the apex of his thighs, already cutting through the soft fabric and threatening the tender flesh of his groin. Even at this odd angle she was applying steady pressure against his package. They were at a stalemate.  
“Call it what you want, but tell him to stand down, now,” Riddick growled his shiv still ready to take out the Merc underneath him. From her vantage point, she was in the position to see everything around her. He glanced in her direction, his face was a hard mask as he took in the blade at her throat, then he saw her blade and his lip quirked up. He fixed on Jack, watching the tall Merc carefully to make sure he didn’t do anything rash.  
“You will have to excuse Junner’s excitement, it sometimes make him a touch quick. Though I can’t say I blame him.” The woman told him, her accented voice echoed through the large docking bay. “You see he’s just heard so much about you, Riddick.” Riddick seemed surprised that they had figured that out, she was too since that was not the name he had given them. They must have some sort of voice recognition program on their com units. “Yes, I know your name, quite a bit more about you I think.”  
“Careful, you may find what you are digging for,” Riddick’s warning made her shiver, it sounded like a promise, she had only ever heard him make one. He had kept that promise, Johns was dead. She remembered the look in his eye when he had made her that promise, and she knew that he would keep any promise he made when he chose to make one.  
“I’m willing to share of course, but I must ask that you surrender your weapons, before any more of my apparently overpaid associates come to an untimely end.” The woman’s eyes strayed from Riddick to her and her captor on top of the skiff. Her bloodied knife in her pinned hand glinting in the light, and the one in her right still trained on the Merc’s groin.  
“Hmm, not gonna happen,” Riddick growled at her. Rehtaeh said nothing; she felt the knife at her throat slide a little closer. She arched her neck further back against her Merc, as she moved her wrist a fraction of a twist to let him know she was willing to play if he was. She might be dying, but she wasn’t dead yet, and she’d be damned if she would allow this fuck-face Merc to kill her.  
“No?” The woman queried, she honestly didn’t believe him.  
“The girl is nothing to me,” Riddick told them looking away from Jack, “but she is growing on Rehtaeh, you may come to blows.”  
“Then enlighten me, why a stone cold killer such as yourself would go to the trouble of keeping the likes of her alive.” The woman’s eyes flicked from Jack to Imam, and back to Riddick. Then her eyes lingered on her, recognizing her name trying to place where she had heard it. She had not yet noticed Carolyn and Suleiman under the skiff, “Unless, of course, you have grown attached.” She murmured into her com unit to have any person with the name Rehtaeh researched, con or civilian, it didn’t matter, she wanted to know who the woman was.  
“She’s a cover story, nothing more. You shoot her now and you’ll be saving me the trouble.” His voice sounded so cold. Was she a cover story too? Why had he given them her name, what was he playing at now?  
“Then I have your blessing.” The woman turned away talking into her com unit as she went. “What did you find on the woman, she seems familiar? I want to know everything about her. I said everything, damn it!” Rehtaeh forced herself not to give in to the bait and kept her concentration on the Merc with his knife at her throat. If she wanted to survive, she needed a Doc, and that meant she had to keep Fuck Face from slitting her throat. She heard metal strike metal and the woman had a smirk on her face as she turned back towards them, “Maybe I know more about you than you do yourself.”  
“Now just ain’t the time,” Riddick said stepping on the man’s throat and breaking his neck.  
“Lock them down. We’re done here.” The woman said walking away, listening to her com device. “I knew it! Junner, she is worth more than Riddick to the right people. Prep a ship for New Mecca, as soon as I am done with Riddick we will take her in.”  
They grabbed Jack from the ground, hauling her to her feet, another Merc pulled Imam from the foam. Riddick they had under gun point and were hauling him towards a large gurney type of dolly prepped to lock him down. Rehtaeh was still on top of the skiff at knife point when she felt a drop of blood slide down her neck, she growled loudly at the Merc as he pushed his erection against her ass. It just went to show that every compatible person was not a friend. She slowly withdrew her knife, purposely nicking the man’s thigh as she did so. “Blood for blood, Fuck Face. You spill mine, I spill yours.”  
He swore at her and raised his arm to hit her when the woman’s voice cried out. “Don’t harm her! She is valuable.”  
“I will concede, and hand over my weapons, as long as no one touches me or my stuff,” Rehtaeh said softly, her voice sounded even more raspy and pained than it had before as it echoed in the dock. The woman, who was watching from above, nodded her consent. Three men had guns trained on her before the Merc holding her would let her go. She stepped away from him quickly, wanting to be away from the pervert. She leapt down from the top of the skiff and stiffened when one man came at her. “Don’t touch.”  
The guard held his hand out and she gave him her knives. “And the guns.”  
“No ammo, but whatever floats your boat, honey.” She pulled the guns from their holsters and added them to the pile. “Oh and I have clearance to carry those. So I will want them back.”  
“Suleiman, bring Carolyn out very slowly.” She called out to the boy still hiding with the wounded woman. She pulled off her pack and carried it in her arms. Her wounds wouldn’t allow any more abuse. The load was causing too much pain. She waited for Suleiman to come out from under the skiff as he carried Carolyn in his arms. The woman looked down at the pilot with an angry, haughty look on her face and Rehtaeh met her eyes. “Fuck Face here just punctured my lung. If I die, you don’t get your money. Where I go she goes, and we both need a Doctor.”  
Rehtaeh walked after the others, the three guards following her closely. She could hear the woman and Junner talking about taking Riddick to a conservatory and having something beautiful in mind. The thought gave her chills, there was something truly off about that woman. This whole place gave her an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was something very wrong here.  
“You should take her to a Medic, her people want her undamaged,” Riddick called back to them from the tunnel.  
The adrenaline in her system dropped suddenly and Rehtaeh felt herself start to shake. She shook her head, trying to brush it off. Then she stumbled. She dropped her pack as she staggered again and just made it to the wall for support. One of the men went to lift her and she screamed at the pain, “Don’t! Don’t touch!”  
The warm man who had held her at knife point was following just behind her caught her when she collapsed again. She felt her shirt rise up revealing her bruised and battered torso. The woman hissed at the sight and several of the Mercs gagged.  
“Told you she needs a medic,” Riddick’s drawl called back down the tunnel.  
“Take her to the Med bay immediately. Take both of them to the med bay. Make sure Rehtaeh’s belongings are taken to the ship, the instructions are very specific for this one. Make sure the Medics bring her back to mint, or I will have their hides.” The woman told the Merc carrying her, her voice was shrill and commanding. Carolyn was immediately taken out of Suleiman’s arms and the boy was shoved forward to follow his father. Luckily the woman was unconscious, with all this jostling she would be screaming in agony. Rehtaeh knew she was still alive. Her life force was weak, but it was there, she could feel it. “When she is done, clean her up and dress her in something nice, we can’t have her going home in those bloody rags. Oh and bring her to the conservatory, there is a piece of art there that has her name written all over it. Besides, she might enjoy the next creation.”


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19  
Riddick  
They were going down a long darkened tunnel lit with the usual bluish green tube lights. It was lined with hundreds of cryo cells. He was manacled and strapped to a steel backboard. Imam, his kid, and Jack all moving alongside his cart. Rehtaeh and Carolyn had been taken to an entirely different part of the ship. She had made a power play for the pilot’s life. He wondered why it was so important to her. She really had a thing for trying to save people. He shook off thoughts of the woman; the only thing she was useful for at the moment was their escape. If they were taking Rehtaeh to New Mecca he would catch up with her in the docking bay later since they were getting things ready he figured he could just sub for the pilot.  
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Imam asked in awe. Jack was leaning heavily on Suleiman’s arm as she limped through the narrow corridor. The boy seemed almost content to act as her crutch as they were escorted through the corridor. Seemed the holy man’s boy had a thing for the runaway.  
“Merc, ships? Plenty.” Riddick told him. Yeah, he’d been carted around on his fair share of the damn things. Too many times for his liking. This was by far the biggest and most organized operation he had encountered so far. Something about it just didn’t quite add up. “Just trying to figure out how it all goes together.”  
“It is a plantation operation,” Imam said, his intelligent eyes sweeping around taking it all in. His kid was too busy concentrating on keeping Jack upright and in step with Imam to look around. “A boat like this loads up at port, signs on as many men as it can hold, then it goes out for months, sometimes years at a time. However long it takes to fill their stores.”  
“Except, in Merchant ships are harvesting ore, maybe crops, not people,” Riddick said to the other man. The Mercs were pretending to ignore them, but really were listening in on the entire conversation.  
“Captured bounties on one side; contracted manpower on the other,” Imam confirmed as he looked intently at both sides of the tunnel.  
“Just add heat,” Jack whispered, thinking of the possibilities as she limped along, barely aware of the boy who was blushing beside her. The poor boy was going to get his heart stepped on. Jack was oblivious. She was right though. Letting some cons lose could make a distraction of some sort, but Riddick wanted out quick with less competition.   
“You know a lot about this shit.” Riddick looked up at Imam, “For a holy man.”  
“I hear things.” Imam stepped back a bit talking to his son in Arabic. The boy blushed even deeper, he stood a bit straighter, but he didn’t release his hold on Jack. Imam studied his son for a long moment before shaking off whatever thought was bothering him.  
“Must be a special kinda desperate dick; signs onto this,” Riddick said looking at the tall, fat Merc walking beside him. The man must have taken offense because he hit him with the butt end of his gun.  
“Shut up!” The Merc ordered him.   
“You’re the exception, of course, for you, it’s life experience.” Riddick sneered at him.   
“Hey, you think Rehtaeh and Carolyn are gonna be okay?” Jack asked him her voice softened just a little. “They were pretty messed up.”   
“They’ll be fine,” Riddick told her, they were getting much needed medical aid. It sounded like they were hoping to have the women healed quickly which meant they probably had a top of the line med suite with a full med cabinet. Carolyn’s were obviously fatal wounds, and she would need some strong healing medications and a couple of weeks in recovery. Rehtaeh’s injuries had been deadly, whether she would admit it or not. That last hit from the Merc punctured her lung, her ribs had been just barely holding together until that hit. Once she was healed she would be helping him create their escape, whether she knew it or not. He just hoped she played along this time. Even injured she had been magnificent in the dock, she had been a graceful and lethal fighter. He could tell that she had been going by instinct. The foam had basically caused a mask to form over her glasses, and yet she had been dangerous to their enemy.  
“So what’s the plan? It’s not like we haven’t gotten outta worse.” Jack pulled Suleiman closer as she tried to stay by Riddick, stumbling and limping on her damaged ankle. “The way I see it we can take these jerks and-. Hey!”  
“This is where we get off, Princess.” One of the Mercs grabbed Jack getting right into her face she cried out in pain as her ankle was jostled. “You too, preacher. Move it kid.”  
They shoved Suleiman in front of Imam, and a pained look crossed the holy man’s face as he said, “I will pray.”   
“Not for me, you’re not,” Riddick told him, the less God involved himself in Riddick’s life, the better it was for everyone. They pushed his cart in one direction and pulled Jack and the others in another.  
“I’ll find you, Riddick, I won’t leave without you!” Jack yelled to him, he could hear her struggling with the guards, trying to get back beside him. He growled. The kid was going to get hurt pulling shit like that. If he was right about this place, the odds were against her making it off this boat alive.   
He was taken into a room lit with bright blue light. It was massive. There was a huge chandelier overhead that held hundreds of life-sized men all holding a piece of the tubing that made the structure. All over the room there were sculptures of human beings contorted into different shapes, some of them were agonizing to look at while others were provocative and obscene. They rolled him to the top of a staircase leading deep into the room.  
“Set him down and leave,” Junner ordered from below him. They removed the straps from the cart and pulled the empty gurney out of the room closing the doors behind them. Riddick stood there for a moment taking in his surroundings, the metal of the shackles dangled in front of him. He started down the steps looking at each of the sculptures.  
Riddick looked at each piece, each one was so detailed as to create the aura of living sculpture, and he was initially unaware of the unfortunate reality. He looked up at one, it looked familiar, tugged something within him. It was the same feeling that he usually got around Rehtaeh, the feeling of recognition. It was a man, strong, hard muscled, his body in a mid-block as though something massive was coming at him. His face was in a battle scream, eyes wide, mouth open and rage and violence were written on the countenance. Riddick looked at the plaque “Killer of Men, Furya”. He looked back up at the man, right in the face and touched his mouth, the tongue moved, tasting Riddick. He jerked his hand back. The man was alive!   
Junner put down his glass somewhere behind him. The Furyan ‘sculptures’ eyes widened in warning as a door swept open. A piercing pain bit him in high in the shoulder where he was injected with something. He could feel it under his skin.  
“Alright, now you have my attention,” Riddick growled as he glared at Junner, the Merc was really wearing on his last nerve. The woman walked in her hips swaying, and her revealing dress hugged her curves.   
“A necessary precaution,” she said as she sauntered up to him. She was trying to be enticing, sultry, she came across as sulky and whiney. “You attempt anything uncivilized, killing me, for instance, I detonate the explosive charge Junner just implanted and I sleep very well tonight. Walk with me.  
“You’re not putting me on a pedestal,” Riddick warned her.   
“No, of course not. You’re strictly for my private collection.” She smiled at him. “The woman, Rehtaeh, she healed quite quickly, much faster than wounds such as hers normally would, unfortunate about the scars. Quite the specimen, too bad she is military, little more than an innocent civilian. If she had been a con, she would make an exquisite piece. The other woman will take several hours, maybe a day to heal, even with the advanced medical technology we have on board.”  
“Yes, too bad,” Riddick said noncommittally he had to keep things impersonal. That finder’s fee was the only thing keeping Rehtaeh alive at this moment, and whatever leverage Rehtaeh had used to keep them from killing Carolyn. For a half a moment he was thankful that the Alliance had made the information public. The woman before him apparently had absolutely no remorse when it came to killing civilians. Five million creds to each finder, a total of ten million UD’s was a very tempting price. He worried briefly about Carolyn but knowing Rehtaeh, she had made some sort of insurance play for her already, and if not, she would.  
“She will join us shortly as soon as she gets cleaned up; apparently she is quite picky about her clothes. Prefers red, the color of blood, she called it a passionate color. Hates dresses, but she needed something formal for her arrival in New Mecca, so I had to insist. Particular about her underclothes too. Amusing woman, that one.” He remembered the black lace lingerie she had been wearing in the compound, the dark lace against her pale skin. He couldn’t stop the tic in his brow at the mention of it and the Captain noticed and continued to taunt him. “Must be hard to be around one so beautiful and not be able to touch her. Her condition is very rare.”  
A door slid open and a woman walked through, her head held high, two Mercs were behind each shoulder. He thought for a moment that the Captain had a daughter or something, and dismissed the beautiful girl as not important, other than a possible out. The Mercs were familiar. One was the fat ass that had escorted him and the other was the man who had Rehtaeh under knife on the skiff. It was the same one who had carried her to the Med bay. He was getting touchy feely with the girl running his fingers over her shoulder. She didn’t jerk away from his touch, but she took offence and elbowed him hard in the gut and pushed him to the side. “Get off, Fuck Face. I don’t like you, so don’t touch.”   
If he hadn’t heard her voice, he never would have recognized her. Her moonlight blonde locks were braided in a coiled fashion around her head like a crown with the thick long plait trailing forward over her shoulder falling between her breasts. Her eyes were hidden behind her black sunglasses. She wore what equated to a sleeveless skin tight sheath of red lace. The beading and detail on the mini dress that were supposed to provide modesty only accented the top and middle of the black lace bra that peeked through the plunging neckline. Her large breasts and tiny waist were displayed beautifully; he could see the muscle definition in her shoulders and collar bones. Rehtaeh even had a six-pack showcased by the neckline which ended, as luck would have it, just below her belly button. He was pleased to see that all of the bruising from her broken ribs was gone. There was a black leather collar around her throat that held some sort of sheer red shawl on her once again flawless shoulders. It attached to black leather cuffs just above the new red scars on her upper arms and another pair of cuffs on her wrists. She still wore her black military boots, he saw the knives hiding within them and her duty belt and holsters hung around her waist. Even her guns had been returned, still empty of course. She was stunning.  
Her lips curved upwards when she saw him but didn’t make a move in his direction. In fact, as she took in the room, took in her surroundings, she froze, her entire body stopped. The faint smile fell away and the familiar lines of cold rage filled her face. He realized that her A.D.S. would let her know instantly that the statues were all alive. She would feel their life force within them. The overly familiar Merc escorted her over to the ‘Killer of Men’ that Riddick had just walked away from, running his hands down her arms and back as he maneuvered her through the room. Rehtaeh kept trying to disengage from the man, but he didn’t let up. The Merc grabbed her ass before he turned and joined Junner. She growled at the Merc as he walked away and he saw her fist clench tight, he realized then that she wasn’t in any pain. The Merc was compatible with Rehtaeh. Something howled inside him. The man was as good as dead. He would make sure of it.  
The female boss joined Rehtaeh watching her intently as she turned back to the living statue. She took one single glance at the man and her skin blanched. He heard her choked gasp as she looked up at the face, “Jacob.” She reached up and caressed the man’s face. Her hand lingering for a long time. Compatibility. The thought made Riddick growl. She had found two men on the same ship that were compatible with her, when by her admission she had met only a few people in her entire life.  
“Rehtaeh, the moment I remembered your name, I knew you would be fascinated by him.” The woman said from beside him, she looked quite smug, having collected Rehtaeh’s horrified reaction. “You know your history of the Founders of Furya.”  
“What is the meaning of this Antonia?” Rehtaeh asked her eyes never leaving the man’s face. Her hands had begun to shake, to the point that she was clenching them into fists trying to stay calm. Her heart was racing and he could smell her scent as it became spicier and spicier. She lowered her head, taking deep breaths trying to stay composed.   
“This is Jacob Furya’s youngest son, Heath. Apparently the man went mad after his father’s death, ended up in a cryo slam for slaughtering hundreds of personnel at the Company Rangers Medical Research Facility on Earth, spouting conspiracy nonsense.” Rehtaeh gasped and looked back up at the Furyan. “He is technically my oldest specimen. I picked him up from a dealer a few years back. I was planning to trade him but grew attached.”   
“Monster,” Rehtaeh whispered looking at Antonia in horror. Then she turned back to the Furyan, she moved her glasses up and placed them in her hair like a hair band, she looked at the figure, eye to eye. Her hand reached out to touch his face, a hand, his shoulder and back to his face. She was looking at the man with something akin to adoration. Watching her made him feel a dark impending rage. He added the Furyan to his hit list. He would not share her with anyone. He stopped and shook off that thought. She was nothing to him; all they had between them was a game. A game that he could end any time he pleased. Antonia was watching Rehtaeh’s openly emotional face with something akin to keen fascination and greed. Something protective came over him and he felt the urge to keep the Captain from hurting his woman. What the hell was wrong with him?  
“Okay, you go to all of the trouble to catch these guys, and this is what you do with them?” Riddick asked his voice was dark, trying to get her away from Rehtaeh, who stayed in front of the Furyan.   
“You are missing the point,” Antonia told him, turning away from Rehtaeh and back to him, resuming her walk around the massive gallery.  
“What point? You’ve got a million UD’s standing around collecting dust.” Riddick was purposely trying to antagonize the woman, to make her realize that her endeavor was pointless. There was no way in hell he was going to let her make him into one of her statues.   
“You underestimate their value Riddick, they are priceless. Each, at one time the most wanted man or woman in the known universe. The numbers of lives ended at the hands of those living and breathing in this room is incalculable.” The woman was oblivious to the pain that crossed Rehtaeh’s face as she spoke.  
“Ain’t what I call living.” Riddick disagreed, Rehtaeh was visibly distressed. Her eyes flicked from one statue to the next, obviously reliving the horror that she had experienced for hundreds of years. He wondered if this Antonia woman was doing this to her on purpose; if she had any idea what Rehtaeh had lived through.  
“Just the same, I assure you they are all very much alive. Each one contained in a state of Cryo so profound that seconds seem weeks, and to blink an eye is a day’s work. The brain, however, continues to function unimpeded. The mind continues to think and feel. Swarming with whatever dark thoughts it’s trapped alone with, as it will be for hundreds of years.” Rehtaeh stayed silent, but her heartbeat had accelerated so much that he could tell that she was under extreme duress. She was listening to Antonia’s diatribe, he wondered if what Antonia had described had been the reality. From the look on Rehtaeh’s face, the experience was much, much worse. Her bared eyes had taken on a feral look, one that told him that she was planning something.   
Completely unaware Antonia continued, “So much more fitting a fate than dropping them off at the nearest slam, here they are appreciated for what they truly are. Transformed into objects on par with their life’s work, and why? Because I gave them the audience they so desperately desired, the recognition they bought with the lives of others. I understood t their actions, stripped free of moral convention. Don’t you see? They are something greater now Riddick. Something more than they ever were before. Art.”  
“Lady, your taste sucks,” Riddick growled. He heard Rehtaeh’s hum of agreement far behind them, she had not followed at all. From the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow of her looking at something under the plaque of the Furyan. He blinked, thinking that, for a moment, she had flickered before his eyes. Then he saw the pool of liquid gathering at her feet. Then she looked back up at the Furyan, she whispered so softly Riddick nearly missed it. Antonia and Junner didn’t hear her at all. “I will be in New Mecca. Find me there, Heath son of Jacob.”  
As he glared back at the Furyan, she looked up at Riddick and smiled a full toothy grin. It was her feral smile, which lit up her face. She turned back to whatever she was doing and when she reappeared her grin was gone. Something pulled in his gut, he wanted to see that smile again. She stood and moved to join them, her body moved cat-like, she stalked or prowled, she didn’t just walk. As always she sauntered silently coming up behind them like a ghost or a specter.   
“I expected as much.” Antonia sounded disappointed. Rehtaeh moved stealthily beside them as though she hadn’t just purposely destroyed the cryo generator on a centuries old mass murderer. Her glasses were back over her eyes making her face almost unreadable. “Junner!” The man pressed a button on a remote control device that raised a massive curtain that revealed a large arena below them. It was too bright in the room for them to see much and there was sheer darkness beyond the bright lights. “You see Riddick there is a fundamental difference between you and I.”   
“Yeah, you’re a psychopath.” Riddick drawled as he looked at her. The woman was crazy.   
“You don’t appreciate art, but I believe the reason for this is something very different than you or anyone else might think.” The woman was conniving, trying to convince him of something, as though she was trying to get approval for her madness. “You are an artist.”  
“I have been called a lot of things in my day, that ain’t one of them.” Riddick’s sardonic drawl made Rehtaeh chuckle darkly under her breath. She stood just in front of him, within arm’s reach. The back of the dress was like the front, the plunging neckline dropped so low he could see the top of her delicate black lace underwear. He reached out and ran a finger down her spine, stopping just long enough to trace the exposed lace of the black bra before continuing to the tops of her matching panties. Her reaction to him was powerful and immediate. She gasped and shivered, her heart sped up, and he could smell her arousal. It was more fervent than the last time, and this was just a single touch. He purred softly. The Merc she called ‘Fuck Face’ glowered at him in rage, he scowled back. Rehtaeh made her preference quite apparent when she didn’t draw away or push him away.   
“You make art Riddick, not analyze it. You shape it with your own hands; carve it from flesh and bone.” Her tone, her everything was really wearing thin. This woman was getting on his last nerve and to try to bring him into her madness and make him nothing but a piece of meat on a block. That was not for him. “But a man like you doesn’t understand such a thing by being lectured, you must experience it.”  
The lights dropped into a low red glow and Riddick was able to see into the arena. Rehtaeh gasped and tried to move forward, but Junner stopped her with a hand on the back of her neck, squeezing until she dropped to her knees in pain. He would have stepped forward and killed the man immediately for his treatment of Rehtaeh until he heard her agonized “No.”  
“Oh, shit,” Riddick said as he saw what lay before him.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20  
Rehtaeh  
That was an understatement. Seeing Imam, Jack and Suleiman down there was horrifying. They each stood on a massive steel ball, with a collar around their necks with a rope attaching them from the rafters. If they fell, they would be slowly strangled to death. They did their best to stay as still as possible; to keep the ball from rolling out from under them. What the hell was going on in this place, what sort of hell were they being subjected to now?   
She couldn’t move she was in so much pain. The pain from the A.D.S. combined with the pain from their healing medications was doing a number on her nervous system. The doctor told her that the medication would stay in her body for several days, and fix any injuries she got along the way, but the healing would be twice as painful as usual. Then he sat back and watched her scream in agony as her ribs started to heal. She could only imagine what damage the meds were doing to her ever changing immune system. She could feel it knitting some of the deeper bruises and the bones in her ribs.   
Her only respite to the pain had been the fiery touch of Riddick’s finger as he traced her spine. After Riddick’s touch being so hot and distracting she had dismissed the others that were around her, his warmth was all consuming. ‘Stupid, stupid girl, when are you going to learn, Rehtaeh?’ She thought. She completely dropped her guard whenever Riddick was nearby. She had to stop doing that. When Junner had grabbed her, the sudden change in reaction in her nervous system had incapacitated her.   
“Get your hands off of me, Fugly.” She growled at him. Junner’s hand basically had her paralyzed. She was unable to move from the pain. Then he moved behind her and pressed his knee into her back forcing her lower to the floor. He weighed a ton, she tried to push up, but she was pinned. She purposely tried not to make a sound, show no pain. She would kill him for this if Riddick didn’t get to him first.   
Since she had arrived on the Kublai Khan, she endured one small torture after another. She forced them to treat Carolyn first, telling them that as far as she was concerned Carolyn was her sister, and she was to be treated as such. Once Carolyn was resting peacefully in a recovery pod, they turned their attention to her. They reset her bones and pumped her full of chemicals in their Med Lab. Then they had taken her backpack, telling her they would store it on the ship. She silently praised herself for putting a passcode lock on the computer so they couldn’t access her files, and for hiding her UD cards in a tiny compartment in the padding of the backpack. They destroyed the clothes she had been wearing, even after she had protested that they could be repaired. The only concession they had allowed her was the use of her own underwear, and only because the Ice Bitch had deemed it pretty. Then they trussed her up like a harlot in a red skin-tight mini dress that covered less than it exposed. It was a dress, she hated dresses! She felt like a bull in a china shop every time she wore one. She flat out refused to wear the stiletto-heeled shoes that they brought for her, and instead put her boots back on. They argued over her weapons and she fought tooth and nail to have them returned. They conceded but only after she swore an oath that she would not use her knives.   
After everything she endured since her arrival, to be forced to watch the possible deaths of her friends was an incomprehensible torment. Especially considering that two of them were just kids for crying out loud.  
“I said I’d find you, didn’t I?” Jack looked up at Riddick, who stood at the very lip of the balcony that oversaw the arena. She sounded terrified and was wobbling unsteadily on her ball. Her ankle was giving her grief. Suleiman was beside her on the ball to her left, Imam to her right. Imam looked scared but otherwise fine. Suleiman was wobbling on his ball and holding tight to the collar around his neck, he kept looking over at Jack and his father, his fear was palpable.   
“What do you want?” Riddick said to Antonia. She felt a door opening underneath them and the faint coldness of two beings. What the hell was Antonia doing now?  
“To watch you work.” Antonia stood beside him and waved her hand at the arena. “I’ve spent the latter half of my life observing fantastic things, the work of terrible men, men such as yourself. But it’s always after the fact; when the moment of bloody creation is cold and past. That changes now.”  
Antonia sat on a long bench and reclined onto the armrests. “I need to see it, Riddick, I need to see it with my own eyes, as it happens. “  
“I get outta there alive you’ll get to see it again, this close,” Riddick said leaning down over her as she took a sip of her wine.  
Rehtaeh watched as Antonia picked up Riddick’s shiv and scraped the sharp tip against Riddick’s chin, the point scratching against his stubble. “No Riddick, I want your masterpiece.” She threw the dagger away from her embedding it into the floor just inches away from Rehtaeh’s hand. She forced herself not to flinch in surprise. “An artist is nothing without his instrument.”  
Riddick walked over to his shiv and picked it up. He was inches away as he turned to look at her being pinned by Junner. His face was a hard mask as always, his eyes hidden behind his goggles. Rehtaeh wondered what Riddick was thinking. He then stood and looked directly at Junner, and the knee that was still pinned into her back. “When we meet again, I’m gonna bury this in your eye.”   
Riddick pulled up his goggles, readjusting them on his forehead. He looked down at Rehtaeh, she met his eyes and nodded. He had to take care of the others, she would be fine, they needed her alive to get the finder’s fee. Damn Alliance. The damn thing had become a blessing as well as a curse. Seemed everyone and their dog wanted a piece of the pie and were willing to kill for it.   
He nodded slightly and turned to the arena. Antonia gave an order to the two Mercs that stood in his path, “Let him in.”  
The Mercs moved to let him pass and as he did Riddick threw a spinning back kick clipping the large fat Merc under the chin. The man went flying. Then Fuck Face attacked him so he split the man open with his shiv. Rehtaeh couldn’t help the smile at that; the creep was all over her once he found out that he was compatible to her A.D.S., he just wouldn’t let up. His actions merely amused Antonia Chillingsworth and her right-hand, Junner. Maniacs, the lot of them. The Fat Merc ran at Riddick from behind and Riddick flipped him and took him down into the dark arena below. Antonia had not even blinked at the loss of human life, she was worse than the convicts that she was putting away.  
She picked up a pair of glasses and told Junner to “Go ultraviolet” The lights went out. Once Junner was done with the controls, he stood back up and hauled Rehtaeh to her feet and pushed her into a large chair. The chair had restraints built into it, and he slapped them over her wrists, locking her down. Then he moved to stand beside Antonia. Rehtaeh leaned down to her hand and pulled her glasses off of her eyes.   
Riddick moved to the center standing before them looking into the darkness under the balcony where they sat. Her friends standing on the massive steel balls looked on in fear, not sure of what would be coming out of the darkness. Suleiman started speaking in Arabic, it sounded as though he was chanting or praying.   
“I was on a pilgrimage, just a pilgrimage,” Imam said as he looked on.  
“This is bad, huh?” Jack whispered wobbling a little as she tried to keep pressure off of her foot. Rehtaeh could feel the beasts move out from the darkness, they were so cold. She shivered as they passed below her feet.  
“Give it a minute,” Riddick growled. It was worse than bad. They were monsters. Two strange monsters. When she saw them, she saw their deadly beauty and felt her fear. They were much like the octopus or squid from the earth, but they had four long tentacles that could move independently of one another. Each one split into two at the ends hiding their defense mechanism, which seemed to be some sort of needle or stinger. They had some kind of rotating energy field within their center that contained their hearts and hanging below that was their main body, which also rotated and held their poison sacs and feeding tubes. “Imam, Pray.”  
The Merc that Riddick brought down with him started shooting wildly at the beasts. One of them reached out its tentacles and wrapped them around the man. Rehtaeh could see the needle as it protruded from between the separated tentacles and entered the man’s flesh. She saw the poison being injected and watched in horror as the man started to scream and writhe in pain, and his body slowly started melting away from his bones. Then the man was no more, he disintegrated into nothingness.   
She started to pull against her manacles. The horror on her friends faces increased her own fear and rage, she began to fight against her bindings. The creatures went after Riddick, tentacles flashing around him, slashing at him. He grabbed them and attempted to throw them off, tried to manipulate them, but they threw him and he was flung into Jack’s ball. It rolled away, leaving Jack hanging, suffocating. Her gasping choking breaths enraged Rehtaeh. She growled pulling harder on the manacles. Imam rolled his ball over to her and shared his space steadying the girl so she could breathe again.   
The monsters were after Riddick again, their tentacles kept flying at him and he kept striking back with his shiv. The second monster took that moment when Riddick was fighting off the first one to go after Suleiman. The boy grabbed his rope and tried to climb up and away from the beast. Hand over hand, he hauled himself away from the creature. His desperation and fear were palpable. His breath came and went in sharp gasps as he tried to get to the top and away from the monster. He was nearly halfway to the rafters, half way to safety, when one of the tentacles wrapped around the boy’s ankle and pulled him down sharply. He screamed in pain but held on to the rope sliding several feet. He kicked at the tentacle to little effect, until Riddick jumped onto the top of the creature and sliced its tentacle releasing the boy. Suleiman resumed climbing and once he reached the safety of the rafters he unbuckled the collar from his neck.   
Screaming from its injured limb the creature moved swiftly toward Imam and Jack. Imam grabbed both ropes and pulled them up so that they wouldn’t be strangled and they pushed the ball towards the beast. It was a direct hit. The creature rolled away, being flattened by the massive metal ball, but it rose again, completely uninjured by the impact. Jack was slowly being suffocated and Riddick leapt on to one of the beasts and vaulted towards the pair hanging from the rafters slicing the ropes with his shiv. Both Jack and Imam fell to the ground in a heap. They looked around helplessly in the darkness, unable to see the dangers around them. Suleiman stayed in the rafters, holding on for dear life, completely blind as to what was going on below.  
“Get her on her feet,” Riddick ordered Imam as the man rose.  
“I cannot see,” Imam called out in the darkness, reaching outwards feeling for Jack.   
“To your left Imam!” Rehtaeh called as she pulled harder on her restraints. She could feel the scrapes beginning to form, the blood seeping to the surface. Junner reached over and slapped her in the back of her head, she hissed in pain, “Watch it, Fugly.”  
“You don’t want to,” Riddick told Imam. Rehtaeh continued to struggle against her shackles. Riddick avoided several more swipes by the creatures, a new strange thing came out of the top of the beasts head as it went after him, yet he still avoided them. Then he growled, “You wanna go? Let’s go.”  
“Beautiful, beautiful creature,” Antonia said from beside her. One thing they could agree on and it just had to be Riddick. ‘Go Fucking Figure.’ Rehtaeh thought in disgust.   
“Shrill are an exquisite species.” Junner agreed as he watched the beasts stalk their prey.  
“I’m talking about the man.” Antonia rolled her eyes. The woman disgusted her, she was a maniac. If anyone should be stuffed for the world to see it should be her. And it should be her dead body, not living flesh.  
“You should both be committed, you are fucking certifiable,” Rehtaeh growled at them, as she shot them a glare. Junner hit her again, this time harder, closed fist. Her ear was ringing. “Fucking crazy asshole, you will pay for that, Fugly.”  
He moved to hit her again, but Antonia pulled him back, “Enough Junner, she is antagonizing you on purpose.”  
The beasts went after Riddick again as he kept himself between them and their friends. Imam took off his collar before helping Jack take off hers. She saw the shrill flicker beyond Riddick and she tried to go to him, Imam held her back, and she protested, “They’re gonna kill him!”  
They flickered and went black. Trying to fool their prey, but Rehtaeh knew that Riddick would see them regardless. If she could see them, she knew he could too. He slashed at their tentacles, slicing a couple off. Then he used one of the balls to roll it over one and leapt to take it out at its center, cutting into its heart. It fell to the ground with a screech and its heart center slowed to a dead stop.   
The other one screamed and came at Riddick tentacles grabbing each wrist and stretched him out pulling him tight. Rehtaeh pulled at her manacles trying to get her wrists through the metal, but there was no use. They were too tight and even popping her thumb out of joint had no effect. She sat there in pain, with her thumb disjointed and felt utterly useless when she was needed. Tears welled in her eyes.   
Then Jack did a beautiful thing. She grabbed one of the tentacles lying on the ground and used it like a whip to catch the weird spinning thing on the top of the Shrill’s head and pulled it one direction. It pulled her back and flipped the girl onto the ground, just inches away from Riddick’s discarded shiv. The weapon on the top of its head moved in for the kill, but Riddick moved at the last moment making the Shrill cut off one of its own tentacles that were holding him in place. It screamed and held tighter with its other tentacle.  
“Riddick!” Jack yelled holding up the shiv.  
“Here!” he yelled back holding out his hand, she threw and he reached and caught the weapon. Then he allowed the creature to pull him in and at the last moment he struck true, severing its heart and the spinning stopped.  
Antonia started clapping happily. “Bravo! The grace! The expression! The sheer violence of it! Exquisite.”  
When Junner raised the lights, Suleiman immediately climbed back down his rope to his father and Jack helping the girl to her feet. Rehtaeh didn’t bother putting her glasses on she was still trying to get out of the shackles holding her to the chair. Junner walked over to her and unlocked the shackles and hauled her to her feet. Her wrists were bleeding from where the metal had bit into her flesh. He dug his fingers into her wrists, knowing that her A.D.S. along with the open wounds would hurt her like hell. She used it. She gathered it. All of the pain the rage and the frustration she had just gone through. She channeled it into action. She lifted her leg hoping he would catch her kick. He took the bait and she jumped and spun, using the momentum to throw her other boot at his head. She connected with a resounding crunch as her steel toe slammed into his nose. He released her and she fell to the ground hands first, she pushed off of her palms and landed a back walkover. She sprang away from him, but he was on her too quick, grabbed her by the hair and hauled her into the hallway where two Mercs were waiting. Each one took an arm, but she had been able to prepare herself for the pain. She would be ready.   
“Escort her to the ship. We will be taking her to New Mecca shortly,” Junner ordered as he straightened his bloodied nose and went back into the conservatory and the door closed silently behind him.  
They hauled her forward, and she let them. She was completely lost on this vessel and had no idea where the hell she was going. She popped her thumbs back into place and let the accelerated healing medications do their work. She heard the blast behind her and felt the entire ship quake, and for a moment she was sure that Riddick was gone. That was; until they led her past the control center. There were three people running around punching buttons and from what she could see they were activating Merc cryo cells. All of them. Whatever Riddick did, it must have pissed Antonia off, she was sending an army after him and Rehtaeh just could not stand that. She was more than ready for a fight. She pushed her glasses back over her eyes and came up with her plan of attack.  
She pulled her right leg up and slammed her foot into the knee of the Merc on that side, she heard the crack and the pop as the bone broke and the knee popped out of place. The man screamed in pain. Then she spun as she brought her leg up and around as she canned the man to her left. He dropped to the ground holding his crotch. She stalked through the door and was immediately attacked by the first of the three in the command post. She took no time, she only had minutes before Antonia and Junner came after her. She slammed the heel of her right hand into the man’s nose pushing up and in, killing him instantly. A woman charged at her and she used the woman’s momentum to flip her over her shoulder before turning and kicking the woman in the head with enough force to snap her neck. The last man was warier and had already alerted Junner that she was in the control room.   
She stalked up to him slowly as he pulled out his gun. His hand was shaking badly as he tried pulling the trigger and was surprised when nothing happened. She snapped her right hand out and hit his gun hand, knocking the weapon into her waiting left palm. She spun it so it settled with her finger on the trigger. “Silly boy, you forgot to take the safety off.”   
She grabbed his wrist pulling it around his back, putting him into a wrist lock. She pressed his gun to the base of his skull letting the cold metal bite into the vulnerable flesh and clicked the safety off. “Open the other cryo cells. On the con side. No beasts.”  
“But they’re cons!” The man protested.   
“I don’t think I care all that much that they are.” She told him calmly putting more pressure on his wrist and drew blood with the barrel of the weapon. “I think that I can either kill you quickly or take my time. Either way you will be dead unless you do as I ask.”  
The man reached out with his one hand and started punching in codes until finally all the cells on the ship were flashing release. Then she felt a blade on the back of her neck. A growling voice echoed in her ears, the tone was teasing, “A little overkill isn’t it Aunt?”  
She froze for a half a breath, he couldn’t be thawed already could he? It had to be a trap. But the man was warm, familiar. She decided to test him, then she dropped into a low crouch, twisted and attempted to slam the butt of the gun into the man’s balls. She looked up in surprise when he caught her wrist and she came face to face with her very nude older nephew. “Heath?”  
“No need for this violence Rehtaeh.” He told her his voice soft with warning. The Merc she had at gun point tried to sneak away and she pulled her arm out of her nephew’s grip and turned her gun back on him, making him freeze in his tracks.  
“I disagree. Junner and Antonia will be here any minute. I need as big a distraction I can get for Riddick and the others. He has kids with him Heath. That Ice Bitch is killing children.” She told him her voice filling with the urgency she felt. “And Carolyn is still in the Med Bay, it will be hours maybe days before she is fit to travel. I just can’t leave her here with these monsters.”  
“Maybe you are right. I will take care of your Carolyn, you keep yourself alive and I will meet you in New Mecca.” Heath told her as he retreated from the room, “Oh and send me a com link so we can keep in touch during transit.”  
“Go find some clothes, Heath! You will terrify Carolyn if you show up naked!” Rehtaeh called after him.   
She turned back to the Merc held him there at gun point and he pissed himself just as Junner and Antonia entered the control room. He was immediately shot by Antonia. “Useless idiot, if he had just done his fucking job.”  
“Wow, Riddick sure did a number on you,” Rehtaeh said as she looked at the woman from the corner of her eye. Antonia’s hair was a mess, there was debris all over her, and she had tiny cuts marring her porcelain skin. Oh, yeah, Riddick had definitely done a number on her. When Antonia saw the smirk that quirked her lips, she slapped her hard across the face, whipping her head to the side. The woman had a violent side. Crazy and violent never made for a good combination. Rehtaeh should know, she was both.  
“You swore you would not attack my men.” Antonia scowled at her. Her job done, Rehtaeh dropped the gun and turned to Junner and Antonia, ignoring the bodies, alive and otherwise that littered the control room.  
“No, I swore I would not use my weapons to attack your men.” Rehtaeh sneered, the corners of her mouth lifting sardonically, “I kept my promise. I used my hands and his gun.”  
“Junner take her. Don’t harm her, just make sure she doesn’t escape again and get her on that fucking ship!” Antonia ordered. “Once we get the finder’s fee from the contact in New Mecca we’ll haul her to Aguerra Prime and collect the bounty from Remner. He has his feelers out for her. We receive a double bounty on your troublesome little ass, and Remner gets a new piece of meat to play with. You know what Remner likes to do with pretty girls like you?”  
‘Remner.’ Rehtaeh thought as her skin began to crawl at the mention of his name.   
Junner must have seen her disgust as she recognized the name; he looked at her and leered. “See, Remner likes to experiment on his girls, slices, dices and makes them do all sorts of weird shit. You will be just like them.”  
“Not if I kill him first,” Rehtaeh growled quietly, as Junner cuffed her hands behind her back.   
“Sweet dreams little girl. We’re going to take care of Riddick and those other two, then were are going to collect your bounties and leave it up to Remner to off you and clean up the evidence.” Antonia scoffed haughtily as she looked down at her from the corner of her eye.  
“You are both bat-shit crazy if you think that is how this is going to go down.” Rehtaeh laughed darkly. Her mind calculated the odds and knowing Riddick as she did, she knew he already had a plan to get them out. She bet that the ship to New Mecca was part of the plan. She let them lead her down the corridor, towards Riddick and the others.  
“How do you figure, Little Girl,” Junner asked snidely, they seemed think that was an insult. She rolled her eyes, she was small and female.   
“First off, Riddick will fulfill his promise to you. He always keeps his promises, when he chooses to make one. So the Shiv in your eye, that’s going to happen.” She glared at Junner and continued walking. She turned to look at Antonia next and continued, “I am not certain which one of us will take your certified ass down, but it will happen shortly after him.” She met Antonia’s eye a second before Junner gave her a shove down another corridor towards the aft of the ship. She glared at everyone and anything they passed as she said the last part, “I do know with one hundred percent certainty that Remner will meet his end at my hands.”  
“I think you are full of shit,” Junner told her pushing her forward again. It didn’t take too long before they were in a massive docking bay with a large ship prepped for takeoff. The hatch was open and everything was ready, two Mercs, one male one female guarding the ship as they waited for Antonia and Junner to board. Junner looked at them and ordered, “Take her inside and strap her into a cryo chair.”  
He pushed her unceremoniously into the waiting hands of the Mercs, who dragged her into the ship. There was no way in hell she was going into a cryo chair without a fight. No way in Hell.  
“Junner, take care of Riddick, I will handle this stupid little girl.” Antonia scowled at her, her pursed lips made her beautiful face scrunch up into an unattractive prune. She waited until the Mercs had Rehtaeh hauled up the ramp before she joined them and hit the switch to close the hatch, leaving Junner to wait for Riddick to arrive.  
The male released her to prep the chair leaving the female and Antonia holding her. The Merc hauled on her arm and Rehtaeh pretended to stumble, falling into the female Merc making her lose her footing in the small airlock. As the woman fell to the side, Rehtaeh rolled and brought the heel of her boot down on the woman’s head. She hit her square in the temple crushing the bone. The woman screamed in agony and Rehtaeh kicked out at her again in the teeth, then again in the nose and one last time in the throat before the male hauled her to her feet and into the waiting chair. The female did not get back up.  
He sat her down and she arched back up. He held her down as Antonia bent to strap in her feet. Rehtaeh screamed and kicked Antonia with the left foot, which was still free and then head butted the idiot Merc. He stumbled back and she pushed back to her feet. She had too much momentum and fell forward onto Antonia, who screamed bloody murder and started hitting her wildly.  
The man came back at her and unlocked the first manacle, grabbed her free arm and hauled her back into the chair and away from Antonia’s clawed hands. Rehtaeh swung at him with her still manacled hand wrapping the chain around the Merc’s throat. She grabbed the other end with her free hand, pulling the ends tight. Antonia hit her several more times, but Rehtaeh refused to release the man. Finally, he collapsed as Antonia clicked her first arm into place, Rehtaeh released the manacles and punched Antonia twice in the face before the taller woman caught her arm and strapped it down.  
The chemicals started to flow and Rehtaeh growled at the woman, “Soon, Antonia, very soon.”


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21  
Riddick  
Junner raised the lights and he saw Rehtaeh. She was manacled to a chair beside Antonia, her wrists were bleeding. That explained why she hadn’t jumped into the battle, she would have been amazing to watch. Junner set down his control pad and moved to stand in front of her chair. He watched in anger as the large man released her from the chair, grabbed her wounded wrist and yanked her to her feet. Riddick wondered what the hell she was doing as she raised her leg in a low kick. There was no room for a proper impact. Junner caught her foot with a leering grin. He apparently thought the same as Riddick did and was equally surprised when Rehtaeh jumped and spun. She used the momentum to throw her other boot at his head. Jack cheered loudly when Rehtaeh’s steel toed boot connected with his nose in a resounding crunch. Blood spurted sideways all over the wall beside them. The man released her and she arched back to land on her palms and pushed back into a walkover. She sprang away from him, but he quickly shook off her hit, grabbed her by the hair and hauled her to the side of the conservatory.   
Rehtaeh was out of the conservatory and relatively safe from what he was about to do next, that was all that mattered to him. He whispered to Imam, “Shiv.”  
“What?” Imam asked him, he sounded confused and Riddick realized that the man wouldn’t understand the prison slang he was using.   
“Give me the knife,” Riddick whispered a little louder, a little clearer. He watched in silence as a shadowed figure moved slowly across the room behind Antonia while Junner was occupied with Rehtaeh. He could hear the footfall on the stairs, it echoed softly into the pit. It had not taken long at all for the Furyan to thaw out. Junner came back only seconds after the Furyan made his escape. So far, no one had even noticed the man was missing from his pedestal.  
“Such complete and thorough performance, it just leaves one question.” Antonia was saying. She had seemed almost oblivious to Rehtaeh’s scuffle with Junner and seemed wholly focused on Riddick and her plans for him. Junner returned and moved to stand beside Antonia, a sneer lifted his lips as he looked down at Riddick.  
Jack looked up watching and said, “I got a feeling you’re not gonna like it.”  
Imam threw him the knife as Antonia continued, “How will I ever have you mounted to do it justice?”  
Riddick raised the knife to his own neck making as though he was about to take that decision away from her. “What are you-?” He embedded the tip of his shiv into his flesh, “No!” she gasped as he started digging for the miniature explosive embedded there. He saw her reach for the detonator as finally he touched it and started pulling it out.   
“Are you gonna keep that?” Jack whispered with disgust as she saw the thing he pulled out. It was a small round disc, with several wires attached that when embedded in his flesh had been sending out electrical currents. He would have not only blown up, he would have been cooked from the inside out as it happened.  
“Looks like you will have to be an abstract piece!” Antonia cried, finally getting her hand on the detonator.  
“Down now!” He ordered the others, and he threw the little chip towards a far wall. It exploded blowing a massive hole in the wall and threw him back. Imam helped him up as Suleiman helped Jack run through the hole. He heard Antonia scream in fear and rage as debris rained across the arena to where she was standing. She started yelling orders to Junner to have everyone released. They would have hundreds of Mercs on their asses. They needed a diversion.  
They fled through the ship making it to an area that was a no gravity zone, so they leapt through as quickly as they could. It would have been quicker to make a straight path to the rear of the ship and up to the flight deck, but with Junner on their tail they needed to be smart. He was leading them from one tunnel to another, always moving to keep the Mercs from catching up. Even with Suleiman’s help, Jack couldn’t keep up. She was stumbling and couldn’t find traction or gain enough momentum to launch herself through the tunnel. She would never admit it, but she was holding them back. Her injury was only making their escape that much more hazardous, it was slow going, trying to find their way through the ship to the docking bay. They had made it to another tunnel and were about half way down when they heard the odd growl.   
“What was that?” Jack asked in fear. Having just escaped from a planet with man-eating Bio-Raptors, and escaping from the Shrill, the last thing the girl would want was another monster.  
“Don’t move,” Riddick warned them. A group of eight Mercs ran past their hiding place and they had to wait for them to pass by. They were followed by a strange creature; it seemed to be half toothy blob and half armored machine. The machine portion was a prosthetic attached to the animal and using some sort of neurotransmitters they had hardwired it into the creatures opened brain cavity. It was a depraved thing to do to a creature, but then these were some pretty corrupt Mercs. They stared in horrified silence as it went by. It was followed by another group of Mercs that were doing a more thorough check. They needed to move quickly before the second group came back. Riddick moved out of their hiding spot and jumped pulling himself up to the next level of the massive ship. Imam and Suleiman followed suit and climbed up, using some indents as a makeshift ladder. He reached down and pulled up Jack, she was half way up when another group of Mercs came across them. Their light hit Jack’s body and they started to shoot. She slipped from his fingers and he had to grab the back of her pants to haul her up. She shrieked in discomfort as she was tossed around, but finally he got her to safety. It was a good thing she was a lightweight.  
“Are you badly hurt?” Imam asked him.  
“Him! He almost tore me in half!” Jack protested pulling her clothes back into place, before grabbing Suleiman’s arm so they could continue on. They were lucky those Mercs weren’t better shots; otherwise she would have been dead. As it was, he had been brushed by one of their bullets and was bleeding into his shirt.  
“Just a graze, this time,” Riddick told him, moving on. They didn’t have time for this, those Mercs were right on their tail and there was that mutated creature after them as well. He could hear more Mercs in the distance, all searching for them.  
They started to run through the tunnels trying to make it back to the docking bays, they were back in gravity so Jack was having an even harder time keeping up. It wasn’t long before Imam’s, and even Suleiman’s energy was running low. They just did not have the stamina to keep up with him. They were dead weight and keeping them with him would just get them all killed.   
“We cannot stop!” Imam said as he watched Riddick slow and turn around.   
“We are not outrunning this thing. Not the four of us.” Riddick said continuing on at a walk. He could hear more Mercs approaching. He wasn’t sure if it was the same group or if these ones were of the horde that Antonia had just released. He could hear the creature behind them getting closer and closer.  
“What? I can keep up!” Jack protested as she limped along, holding tight to the boy beside her. Suleiman, just panted, trying to catch his breath. He might have been able to make it, if not for the girl beside him using him as a crutch.   
“Maybe someday.” Riddick looked around trying to figure out a way to divert the attention of the Mercs and the monsters. Too late, they were being surrounded. There was nowhere to go. He saw the perfect place to go up, but there was a group of ten fully armed Mercs standing in the way. He had taken on more, but he no longer had the element of surprise. “Shit.”  
“What now?” Jack asked as she turned in the direction that Riddick was looking. Her face fell instantly. Riddick pulled his shiv, preparing to fight. The other group of Mercs was closing in and the monster was not far behind.   
“Stay back,” Riddick told Imam, indicating he should watch out for the kids, as he stalked towards the Mercs blocking their path. There was a yell farther up the corridor and a commotion at the back of the group of Mercs. Riddick used the distraction and lunged at one of the Mercs, slashing his throat. The Merc to his left turned his gun on him, and Riddick had to use the first Merc’s body as a shield. He ran at the shooter with the body and slammed him into the ground grabbing the man’s gun. He flipped it around and shot him in the head before turning it on the next man.  
“Stop! Don’t shoot, man!” the man he aimed at called out. It was a convict. Someone had released the prisoners. “We got orders to get you to the flight deck.”  
“You gotta be kidding me,” Riddick growled, these were criminals they did not follow orders. This had to be some form of trap. He kept the gun leveled at the man’s chest. “What orders?”  
“Dunno, Frosty ordered us to get you guys to the dock, and keep the Mercs off your junk.” The con told him, his hands were up. There were six cons, the Mercs were all dead.   
“Frosty?” Riddick asked his eyebrow rose in question.  
“Yeah, the defrosted Furyan, told us you and the kids needed a getaway.” The con told him, looking down the corridor at Jack and Suleiman. “Mercs have no business killin’ kids.”   
“What’s in it for you?” Riddick looked at the men around them. Cons were notorious for exacting high prices for their services. Another reason why Riddick hated the slam system, the prisoners were just as greedy as the Mercs and Prison Guards. He waved Imam and the kids forward.   
Another man stepped forward to answer this one. “This ship, if we can take the ship from the Mercs, we get to keep it.”  
“There’s more Mercs coming this way, one of their beasts is just behind them,” Riddick told the guy. He wondered if it had been Rehtaeh or the Furyan who had released the Cons. What was in it for him if he did? Was he planning on joining them on their ship to New Mecca? He pushed away the questions, they were not important. Escape was. “I can take them out, already have something in mind, I just need these guys out of the way. Can you get them to the flight deck?”  
“Sure thing, it’s just up a level, aft of the ship. We’ll hide here until the Mercs pass and make our way up.” The second con nodded, motioning for Imam and the kids to follow him. He was headed for a hiding spot just a little ways up the corridor. Jack, of course, started to protest.   
“Go, Jack, they will have Rehtaeh there, and a ship prepped for New Mecca,” Riddick ordered her. “Go with them and let whatever is following pass and when it does make for the flight deck and don’t look back. No matter what you hear.”   
He waited until they were hidden in the shadows with the cons and then moved further on. He was going to create a diversion for them.   
“We’ll wait for you,” Jack told him, she really did not want to let go. Suleiman made her look at him and shook his head, trying to get her to understand that it was for all of their safety, including Riddick’s. The boy had a good head on his shoulders; it would be a shame for him to lose it now after all they had been through.  
“Follow, Imam,” Riddick told her before turning and starting to run. He needed her out of there soon for his plan to work. Her menses would only muddy the situation if his theory was correct. He cut his forearm crossways and let the blood drip onto the floor as he ran, creating a blood trail for the beast. He was going off of the assumption that the beast had a nose for blood. Then as he came to a dead end, he pulled off his shirt and let his blood soak into the fabric.  
He dropped his bait under the vent and climbed up into the ventilation shaft and waited for his trap to work. From his vantage point, he could see the little space where Imam and the others were hiding as well as the path the enemy would be taking. The Mercs followed him in, using the lights on their scopes to search for him in the dark dead ended corridor. The monster followed only minutes behind them. Riddick’s heart stopped for a half a second as the beast slowed at the hiding spot of the others, having caught Jack’s scent. Thankfully, his bloody bait proved stronger and the monster went after the stronger scent of Riddick’s bait. As soon as the beast passed Imam’s group, they took off for the ladder headed up a level.   
Riddick turned his attention back to the Mercs searching the corridor for him. They were getting closer and closer to the dead end. One of them even picked up his soiled shirt, covering himself in blood. The beast went into a frenzy as it scented the bait. Sure thing it had a nose for blood. It ate the blood covered Merc and crushed two others and knocked the fourth into a pile of equipment, the impact breaking the Mercs neck. It tore through the Mercs, all but one, who somehow had the brains to escape into a water-main. When the monster stopped just below the vent shaft, searching for the source of the blood, Riddick dropped onto it. He embedded his shiv into the creature’s exposed brain matter, killing it instantly.  
Jumping off the monster he looked around to see if there were any more Mercs around. There were none. However, he did notice a couple of cons hanging back watching him in awe as he walked away from the beast. He picked up his bloody shirt and looked at it for a moment before saying to himself, “I ain’t putting that back on.”  
He looked around and spied the body of one of the Mercs, his shirt was relatively clean so he stripped it off of the man and pulled it over his head. It wasn’t like the guy would need it anymore. The cons followed suit and started stripping the dead Mercs of their gear and weapons. There were sounds of more Mercs headed in their direction, the cons either didn’t hear them or were ignoring the oncoming men. Riddick didn’t stick around, he took off back the way he had come heading aft and up a level to the flight deck. There were sounds of Mercs fighting cons all around him, he avoided most of them, but a trio of cons figured him for a sucker and came at him fast.   
The first man had a sword he had gotten off of a Merc. He obviously had no idea how to use it because Riddick was able to avoid it easily. He knocked the weapon out of the man’s hand and struck the man hard in the head with his fist. He grabbed him by the shirt and threw him into the second man. The third man raised his gun at Riddick and fired. Just in time he dropped and launched himself at the man, tackling him to the ground, grabbing the gun hand. He slammed it into the ground twice before the Con released it. Riddick picked it up and turned it on the Con. He took out all three men in quick succession, he usually didn’t use guns, but he was in a hurry. The last one was still dropping to the ground as he ran towards the dock.  
The doors were unguarded, but it looked as though there had been a battle fought. Mercs and Cons littered the floor. Two of the dead Cons were ones that had helped Imam escape. This did not bode well for his friends. He silently entered the massive flight deck and looked around. There were three more dead cons on the floor by the entrance. It looked like the cons had tried to create a diversion for the others. Only one ship was prepped for flight, the hatch was closed and the dock was basically empty. He looked around carefully watching for traps and saw Jack struggling with the Captain’s right-hand man. Junner had Jack pinned to the wall by her throat. She was struggling and squirming to get free, her feet kicking uselessly at the man. Imam and Suleiman were both unconscious on the floor nearby. Their chests rising and falling were the only indication of life. It looked as though the man had taken them out one at a time.  
“Let her go, it’s me you’re after. Wanna shot at the title?” Riddick growled at the other man as he waited for the man to drop the struggling kid. He held his shiv out in front of him, waiting as Junner turned and pulled off his jacket, then he pulled the sword out of his gun. They stared each other down for a long moment. Riddick took in the man’s swollen nose and the bruises starting to form under his glasses, admiring Rehtaeh’s work. She had done a good job on the man before he hauled her away. Riddick smirked thinking that his woman was strong enough to hold her own against a man twice her size. He shook off the thought, she was not his woman.   
Junner swung his sword forward and Riddick ran at him. He kicked the sword up out of the way and slashed with his shiv. Junner avoided his blade three times before he punched Riddick on the chin and he was spun away. He went on the offensive and spun at Riddick slashing with the sword, Riddick avoided it easily. He ran at Junner and was kicked hard in the head. He shook off the blow and they attacked each other again, this time Riddick got the one up and pinned Junner against the side of the ship. Junner tried to push his sword at him, but he held him off until the man kicked him again throwing him off. They parried, blade on blade and Riddick’s shiv was spun out of his hand.   
Junner slashed at him with the sword, he avoided each strike as it came. Watching the other man Riddick moved in close and grabbed his sword arm, he hit Junner’s hand knocking the sword out of it. Both without weapons they attacked each other savagely, both of them got in a few good shots plowing their fists against each other trying to get the other one down. Junner gave a good kick to his jaw and Riddick stumbled back into some parts and cables, knocking the air out of him. He got to his feet and saw the strings of electrical cables mere feet away from him, he saw his out. Riddick spied where his shiv had fallen. Just feet away from the Merc, he just needed to catch the man unawares. Junner picked up his sword, as he rushed forward striking out with his weapon.   
Riddick rolled left and grabbed the cables. He whipped the thick cords towards the Merc, wrapping one around Junner’s throat pulling tight. He knew there wasn’t much chance of actually choking the man to death since there was so much slack. He was trying to bait the other man into cutting the lights so he could make his move. As planned the man sliced the cables with his sword, cutting the main power in the flight deck. Junner was blind in the darkness and Riddick could see not only where his shiv was but also everything that Junner was doing. The Merc was striking out uselessly with his sword trying in vain to hit Riddick, blindly attacking the dark void that surrounded him. Riddick grabbed his shiv from the ground, waited for an opening and lunged at the man. He plunged his shiv into Junner’s eye, fulfilling his promise.   
“I told you that was comin’,” Riddick told the dead man as the backup power kicked in. He turned to the ship sitting in the bay. It looked ready to launch, even though the running lights had been turned off. This must be the ship they had prepped for New Mecca, but where the hell was the pilot, and where was Rehtaeh?  
“Where, where are you going?” Imam asked him as he walked toward the ship. He was leaning against the wall where he had fallen, having just come too. That was a good thing, he could get his kid and Jack up and ready to go.   
“I’m gonna prep this ship and get off this heap,” Riddick growled as he rolled his eyes, it was an obvious answer to an obvious question.  
“So we can escape?” Imam asked him, stressing the ‘we.' Riddick growled quietly. As if he would leave them behind on this dump especially after taking the trouble to get them here. Riddick waved his hand in a forward motion, indicating that the man could come if he chose, but he didn’t stop walking. He turned the release on the hatch of the ship and lowered the ramp. He heard them before he saw them. Antonia stood there gasping and looking like she had been through a war. Rehtaeh, behind her, strapped into a cryo chair, growling angrily as she struggled against the bindings holding her down. Her hair was in complete disarray and there were two dead Mercs on the floor beside the chair. The girl had definitely put up a fight.   
“Riddick! She has a gun!” Rehtaeh yelled her warning, but she was drowned out by Antonia.  
“Back to hell with you, you bloody stinking savage!” Antonia screamed as she raised a small double-barreled handgun in his direction, the shot echoed through the bay. The pain radiated out from his shoulder and he hit the floor with the impact of the bullet. She walked down the ramp towards him, raising the gun again for another shot.  
There was a massive blast from the sidelines and Antonia flew sideways. The gun fell from her hand and blood pooled on the floor underneath her. Riddick sat up and got to his knees. He looked up thinking that Imam or Suleiman had taken the shot, but it was Jack who held the smoking gun. She looked at him with wide eye and whispered, “Yeah, we made it.”  
“Awfully uncivilized thing you just did there Jack,” Riddick told her as the full impact of her actions hit her hard. They moved towards the ship together as a group. Rehtaeh was still trying her damnedest to get out of her bindings. Riddick hauled the dead Mercs off the ship, as Imam released her from the cryo chair. She was up and out of it so fast that she was like a cat with its tail caught in a mouse trap.   
“Still not a fan of Cryo?” He asked as he walked back up the ramp.  
She looked at him like he had two heads and he laughed. Then she just smiled and turned the access ramps trigger, the hatch started up and sealed into place. She looked at Riddick’s shoulder, and Jack still limping through the ship. He saw something akin to pain cross her face before she turned away. She grabbed her pack and walked to the front and claimed the co-pilot seat. “Just get me the fuck off this dump. So far, I prefer space more than anyplace we’ve landed.”  
“What about Carolyn?” Jack asked her voice was worried and he wondered what Rehtaeh had planned for the woman. It wasn’t like Rehtaeh to leave people behind.  
“She’s still in the med bay, in recovery. It’ll be a couple of days before she can travel. Don’t worry Jack, she is in good hands.” Rehtaeh looked at Jack, trying to assure her of the pilot’s safety. “Heath won’t let anything happen to her.”  
“Who’s Heath?” Jack asked as Riddick started prepping the ship. Everyone stopped when they heard someone yell. They all gathered around the console and looked out the visor to watch as dozens of Mercs surrounded the ship, blocking their take off. Within moments of their arrival, another group of men and women surrounded the Mercs and a small war broke out on the bay floor. There were cons everywhere fighting with the Mercs. Rehtaeh was not at all surprised by their arrival, and her knowing smirk told him that the cons were her doing. From the corner of his eye, he watched Rehtaeh examine the communications panel for a moment before punching a couple of commands into the machine. Curious. When she was done, she turned off all the trackers that she could find. She was making them go dark.   
“What the hell?” Imam asked looking out the visor at the men and women fighting on the flight deck.  
“Hey, Riddick, just add heat?” Jack told him with a big grin, thinking he had something to do with it. He shook his head and indicated the woman beside him. Jack’s eye went wide in surprise. Imam shook his head and went to the back to find a seat for takeoff as Jack and Suleiman strapped in seats beside each other and excitedly about their adventure.  
He systematically went through all of his pre-flight checks when Rehtaeh suddenly sat up and turned to Imam. “Hey, Imam, I noticed there’s a med closet in the airlock, could you take Jack back there and see if there is anything that will help her ankle? If shit ensues, we all need to be healthy enough to contend with whatever happens.”  
Imam nodded and unbuckled his belt and Jack limped along behind him. She turned back to him, her glass covered eyes couldn’t hide the determination he saw written on her face, “Once we are on course, I am taking care of your shoulder. If you argue with me, I will use my knives. Got it?”  
He looked at her with unmasked surprise; she was not usually so aggressive with him. She didn’t wait for his response before she hauled her pack onto her lap and started rummaging through it. She grabbed her music player and a small file computer. It was the same one he had seen her using back at the commune before the eclipse. She hadn’t offered it up for communications so he assumed that it was for file storage only. He smiled and turned to watch the woman as she leaned back in the co-pilot seat. She was just about to put the speakers in her ears when he asked her, “Why does everyone underestimate your fiery nature?”  
“It’s the innocent doll-like packaging.” She shrugged as she put the little device in her ear and turned on the sound. Then she turned on the small computer and tilted the seat back. Her legs stretched out in front of her, her dress gaping invitingly. There was nothing innocent or doll like about her in that dress. She was hell on wheels in that outfit; her body sent an invite out to every hot-blooded male in her vicinity. He wanted to tear it off of her. She looked like a siren and called to him on an animal level.   
Riddick forced himself to look away and started punching keys, trying to hack the mainframe of the mother ship so he could access the bay doors, but instead a familiar face flickered up from the projection panel. Riddick nudged Rehtaeh and growled. She looked at him in surprise and then turned when he pointed at the communications holograph that had popped up. The Furyan was awake. He had cleaned himself up and gotten dressed. Riddick was loath to admit it, but the man was handsome, with dark hair, high brow, wide-set gray eyes, strong jaw. He looked like a Roman warrior type of guy, every woman’s dream of tall dark and handsome. He gritted his teeth in unexpected rage when Rehtaeh looked up at the screen and smiled at the other man, “Morning, Heath, I trust you have slept like hell.”  
“Of all people, you would know.” He looked at Rehtaeh with familiarity. His face was somber, almost sad as he looked from Riddick to Rehtaeh. “Thanks for the wake-up call, Rehtaeh. They called you Contained Chaos, now I understand why.”  
“Hmm, the world is chaotic, I merely participate enthusiastically.” She rebuffed him, still she smiled softly. Heath chuckled, and the smile turned into a grin. Riddick wished that she was not wearing her glasses so that he could see her eyes. She sobered quickly as she looked up at the Furyan, “How is Carolyn?”  
“She is still in the Med Bay, but doing well, the Doctor says she will survive with no permanent damage and little scarring.” The man smiled at Rehtaeh, and she grinned back. They were too familiar with each other. Who was this man? Riddick held back a growl, snapping his teeth closed. Heath must have heard it since his intelligent gray eyes snapped to Riddick’s face, his lips curving in a slight smile. Riddick just looked at the other man for a long moment. “Riddick, I read your file, the holes in it are, - interesting.”  
“You plan to cut us loose?” Riddick asked, dismissing the other man’s curiosity. He looked out the visor at the Mercs and cons surrounding the craft. “Looks like you’re due for a purge anyways.”  
“Rehtaeh did leave me a mess to clean up. I will meet you in New Mecca when I have it under control. Riddick, keep an eye on that woman for me.” Heath told him with a challenging look in his eyes. Riddick sent him a dark look, but Heath was looking at the woman in the red dress beside him. He grinned and threw a pointed look to Rehtaeh. “You, stay out of trouble.”   
“Ya’ssir” She slurred and raised her hand and saluted him in a sloppy military style, making the Furyan’s mouth quirk into a smile. The holograph dropped and the bay doors opened, sucking Mercs and Cons alike out into deep space.   
“Double R, you are cleared for take-off,” Heath’s commanding voice came through the speakers.  
“I take it that’s Heath? He’s hot!” Riddick turned to see Jack standing just behind them looking at the void where the holograph had been. Her ankle was sturdily wrapped and she wore the look of someone well medicated on her face. The girl was completely oblivious to the crushed expression on Suleiman’s face. Then she turned to one of the cots that were available and curled up for a nap.  
“He’s four times your age, Jack,” Rehtaeh said with a laugh. She looked at Riddick for a moment before turning back to her computer. Her voice softened as she continued with a small sigh, “But yeah I suppose he is handsome enough if you like the Alpha warrior type.”  
That didn’t sit well with Riddick. He wanted her attraction focused solely on him, not the compatible Furyan. He went through launch protocol and the ship lifted off the dock floor, he punched the throttle and he was off, hitting imploding bodies as they passed by the ship. He pushed the thrusters to full blast and roasted any remains they passed. He noticed that Rehtaeh was gripping the armrests and focusing on the windshield, she was breathing slowly and evenly, concentrating on not being sick. When the initial launch was over, she eased back into the seat and resumed looking through her small computer. He went through the in-flight systems checks and set a course for New Mecca, it would take them two weeks to get to Helion Prime since they were already in the Tangiers system. The Kublai Khan had brought them much closer than they would have been able to get in their little skiff. An hour passed before he had everything under control and was finally able to put the ship on auto-pilot.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22  
Riddick  
“Who is he?” Riddick growled at her once he was done. He was fuming. The past hour had done nothing to calm the fierce protective and possessive urges that were raging through him. He had never felt this way before and there was only one person responsible. Her.  
“Family, why?” Rehtaeh wasn’t actually paying him any attention. She had become absorbed in something on the little computer device she was holding. A small crease marred her brow, “What the Fuck?” she grumbled as she concentrated on what she was reading. Her music was turned up loud enough that he could hear the grinding beat and the high shrill notes of the electric guitar, her foot tapping steadily to the beat of the drums. She was still wearing the stunning little dress, but she had removed the holster from around her hips. He hadn’t realized that the double wrapped gun belt provided modesty, where the intricate bead work and detail only showcased her more private attributes. He could see the darkness of her underwear beneath the sheer fabric. It clung to her like a second skin but from his angle he got much more of an eyeful. She seemed to have absolutely no idea what she looked like in that hot red number.  
He stood and leaned over her, she was completely oblivious, which never happened between them. She had gone and shut him out. It seemed she needed a reminder as to who she was dealing with. He reached over and tore the little buds from her ears, which jerked her out of her head instantly and she moved to sit up. She stopped the second she felt his shiv at her throat, brushing gently against her pulse point. She stilled then leaned back in her seat and looked up at him, her glass covered eyes meeting his goggled ones. He took the computer and music device from her and dropped them onto his seat behind him.   
“Wrong answer. Who is he?” Riddick growled at her, his shiv caressed the soft white flesh at her throat. He hadn’t even touched her directly yet and he could smell her arousal, sharp and sweet.  
“Heath is my nephew, my youngest brother’s son.” She whispered. Good that meant that he was not a threat. He wouldn’t have to kill the man. It did nothing to lessen the feelings he had for her though. Emotions he didn’t even want to explore, much less act on. Yet here he was trying to make her understand that she belonged to him and him alone.   
He heard her heart leap as he drew his shiv slowly along her neck and then from the dip in her throat down her fully exposed sternum he stopped at the lacy silk material that made up her bra. He considered cutting it off of her but remembered Antonia’s remark about her being particular. “What would you do if I destroyed this?”  
He rubbed the blade of the shiv against the nearly sheer fabric. Her lip quirked up at the corner, but not in a smile, she was baring her teeth at him as in a threat. “Embed this knife in your groin?”   
She twitched her wrist just enough for him to notice that not only was her hand millimeters away from his most sensitive parts, but her sharp blade was even closer. He could feel the cold metal through the fabric. She really seemed to have that spot figured out. He remembered her telling him that she was as proficient with a blade as she was a gun, and he had already seen the evidence of that.   
“Hmm, would you really?” Riddick asked her, quietly, not wanting to catch the attention of Imam or Suleiman. Imam had just finished prepping a cot for his son who was settling down for sleep. He had turned to prep the third cot for himself. Jack was already completely out. Calling her bluff, he lifted the knife just a touch intending to snag the material. She moved her knife closer to his flesh, cutting a tiny hole into the crotch of his pants.  
She quirked her head to the side and raised one of her thin blonde brows over the rim of her glasses, then asked, “Do you really think I am bluffing? My undergarments are all handmade silk lace. They are quite pricey, especially in this day and age, so I have been informed.”  
“Mmm, I think I will take that. Just in case.” He grabbed for her wrist and twisted the knife out of her hand then tossed it onto the pilot seat behind him. She grabbed his wrist and pushed hard against his shiv hand. Now that she was no longer injured she was a hell of a lot stronger than he remembered. She pressed up slow and steady, just enough that she was able to roll out from under him and reach around his back. He didn’t see her take the other knife from her boot and stilled in surprise when he felt the blade pressed against his back, biting softly into the flesh that hid his infamous sweet spot. She reached behind her and blindly grabbed the knife he had just discarded. She flipped it in her hand and in an instant she had it at his throat. Not once had she broken eye contact with him.  
“Imam,” Rehtaeh said as she watched Riddick carefully. He tried twice to move his knife, but she had pressed hers closer in a silent threat. She seemed to be following the holy man’s movements with her A.D.S. “It seems Riddick is ready to have the bullet removed. Would you please bring me the first aid kit? I will need a bottle of alcohol, some thin forceps or long tweezers as well as a tray and a ton of gauze.”  
“Are you sure, Rehtaeh? He doesn’t look like he wants any medical treatment right now,” Imam looked at the two of them. Riddick wondered what the hell Rehtaeh was thinking. They were in a standoff with her knives and his shiv. Riddick growled in agreement, this was not the game he intended to play. He’d had something altogether different in mind.  
“I am certain Imam. He may not want it, but it’s the only treatment he is going to get from me right now. Suleiman, before you go to bed would you grab that little table and put it between these seats, please?” She sounded irritated, there was a fascinating tic in her jaw as she clenched and unclenched her teeth. She stood the remainder of the way, both of them easing their positions. It was like dancing, both acting and counteracting to the desires of the other. His shiv was still on her breastbone just above her bra, each time he tried to move she reminded him that she had both of her knives on his most vulnerable arteries. “Nice and easy, Mr. Riddick, I want you to take my seat. We are going to take care of your wound, and we are going to do it my way. Sit, Riddick.”  
She moved her hand away from his spine, moving the blade from his side to his abdomen just below his diaphragm angling it upwards, so she could hit his lung or heart. At all times, she kept the other knife steady on his neck. The spitfire gave him no choice but to follow her directive. He sat. Slow and steady. She switched knives at his neck so she could grab the shiv gently out of his hand and toss it into his seat with her other things. She did it without dropping her second knife. Imam had come back with the kit, she took it from him as easily as she had taken his shiv. She was so smooth and stealthy with her knives, her hands were steady. He couldn’t help but admire her technique. She hadn’t even given him an opening.   
She was dominating him, forcing her will on him. He wondered briefly if he had brought this side out of her. Would she have ever tried it if he hadn’t messed with her so much on T2? He had dominated their game so far and he had teased her relentlessly. She waited until he was seated, holding her knife to his throat with one hand and the medical case in the other. Suleiman set up the small table beside her and she set the heavy medical case on it. She used her free hand to flip it open.   
“Thank you, Imam, Suleiman. I appreciate your help. You should rest now. It has been a long time since you had any sleep.” Her eyes were hidden behind her dark glasses so he couldn’t tell if she had taken her eyes off of him for even a second. She waited for a long moment, he heard both of the other men move away and start settling down for a nap. Still holding her knife to his throat she swung her leg over him and straddled his hips. She gingerly adjusted her weight on him, pinning him to the seat. The red dress rode up on her thighs giving him a beautiful view of her black lace panties. He growled low in his throat at the sight, her responding whisper was low and husky. It betrayed her desire, “One thing at a time, Riddick. Bullet first, if you’re good, we’ll play later.”  
Ignoring the knife, he grabbed her hips and repositioned her on his erection. He wanted her to know what she was doing to him. He was surprised when she allowed it. A low purr emitted from her throat, she rocked once against him and hummed in pleasure. Her knife was still steady against his throat as she whispered softly, “Take off your shirt, Riddick. Take it off if you want to keep it. Otherwise, I am going to cut it off of you.”  
He made no move to take off his shirt. He wanted the Spitfire to work for this. He wanted to see her play her game, how far would she take this? She moved her second knife under the hem of his shirt. He could feel the cold, sharp blade as she gently threaded it under the fabric to his collar. The knife at his throat was steady. This game she was playing was hot. She intrigued him with her play at domination. He was an alpha male though, he enjoyed control, and so he wanted to dominate her. He thrust his hips up trying to break her concentration. Instead, she rode his movement with a little buck of her own and moved her second knife up under his shirt until it too sat at his throat. “No, love. This is my game, my rules.”  
She moved the second knife and sliced the shirt effectively from collar to hem in one swift stroke. He growled as he realized that she had called his bluff and ruined the only shirt he had. Flicking the ruined edges open she exposed the hard planes of his abdomen and chest. She scraped the edge of the knife up over the muscles, she was careful and calculating, her hands were smooth and steady. The cold metal on his chest was a threat and his heart rate spiked. Normally his instincts would be screaming for him to fight back. His animal side was silent, content, more than pleased with her game. He continued to watch her play, her eyes were hidden behind her glasses, but her expressive face told him that she was pleased by what she saw. A small smile lifted the curve of her cupids bow lips as she rocked her hips and hummed her approval. He couldn’t help the spike in pride as she looked at him.  
He knew the moment she returned to her intended task. Her brow creased in concern, and her lips quirked down into a frown. He growled. He did not like this look. He wanted the playful woman back.   
“Business first Riddick, it’s bad and needs care,” Rehtaeh whispered softly, her voice was gentle and yet fiercely protective. She returned her second blade to her boot but kept the first one at his neck. She leaned forward against him and pulled the medical kit closer to the edge. How she kept her blade steady, he had no idea. He did know that the light brush of her breasts against his chest was driving him mad. She grabbed the bottle of alcohol that sat inside the kit. The first knife disappeared into her boot, and she cleaned her hands quickly with alcohol gel before putting on a pair of gloves. He watched with fascination as a new side of his little dominatrix came out. She was all business as she cleaned his wound and sterilized the equipment she needed with alcohol, iodine and any other cleansers that were in the box. There was a pair of spreaders, and long tweezers, needle, and suturing thread. “There are no freezing agents Riddick, this is going to hurt like a bitch.”  
He nodded once. Not that she needed or wanted his permission. She took off her glasses and dropped them on the table. He could see her silver pupils constrict tightly in the bright light of the cockpit. More and more of her purple irises were revealed. The color near the center was almost the shade of a light lilac, and the outer edges were a stormy violet. In the light, her pupils looked black. Beautiful. She gently used the spreaders to open the wound pushing them deep into the flesh, and then wide as she found what she was looking for. He grunted in pain as he heard them scrape against the metal of the bullet. She held the spreaders with her left hand and reached for the tweezers with her right. She took a couple of slow steadying breaths as she steadied her hand. Gingerly she poked the tweezers into the gaping wound, searching through the blood and gore for the bullet embedded there.   
“Riddick, ease up your grip. I can’t work if you are gonna squeeze me in half with your bare hands.” She growled at him, her brow was arched as he met her steady gaze. He wondered for a moment, ‘what the hell is she talking about.’ He followed her eye movement to her hips, and the tight grip he still had on them. His fingers were digging into her soft flesh through the lacy red dress. He eased his grip and massaged the area where he had been holding her. She met his eyes, and she winked at him with a small smile on her lips. He moved his hands to the armrests to keep himself from injuring her further.  
The last time he went to an actual doctor was when he was in the Company Rangers, and yet she was steadier than the ones who attended him. She had the bullet and the three fragments pulled out of his shoulder within a few minutes. Then she poured copious amounts of alcohol into the wound. He ground his teeth and growled in pain, but he didn’t move. Once she was done that she swabbed out all the extra blood and poked around for a moment or two. The crease in her brow grew deeper as she concentrated on what she was finding in the wound tract. He watched her face intently as she repaired his wound. Finally she stitched him back together, making sure that she used biodegradable sutures so that he wouldn’t need to remove them later. They would just be eliminated from his body as his flesh healed.   
“You are lucky the bones didn’t break with the impact. As it was the bullet hit both arteries and veins, there was quite a bit of damage. You could have lost your arm if we had wasted more time. It should heal properly now, but we need to keep an eye on it.” She told him as she wiped away the blood and iodine from around the now closed wound. She put an ointment on it and sealed it with a nonstick gauze pad and tape. She leaned forward and gently placed several kisses on and around the wound. The damn woman was kissing him better! Like a child. He growled at her, and she grinned. Her smile pulled something in him like it always did. She looked at her handiwork for a moment before swinging her beautiful eyes back to his.  
“Who the hell are you really?” Riddick growled up at her. There was no way she was just some Dignitary’s daughter. She held herself like she was in the military, strategized like a general, fought like a con, was as rhythmic as a musician, and apparently performed as a doctor. He wanted answers from her, he was done letting her dominate him. He was about to lift her and reverse their positions when he noticed her knife was back at his throat. She reached up with her free hand and flicked off the lights in the cockpit enveloping them in darkness. Then she reached up and pulled his goggles off his eyes, dropping them onto the littered table. Then she picked up hers and hid her eyes from him.  
“My game, Riddick, my rules. I didn’t say we were done yet, and I did promise you we would play after.” Rehtaeh ignored his question and rolled her hips against his. She pulled her other knife out and made quick work of the rest of his shirt. She cut the fabric off of his shoulders before she returned the knife to her boot. She rose a bit and leaned forward against him, she nestled her lips in the little hollow under his ear. Her full breasts brushed against his bare chest. Her arousal was back full force, heady and sweet. He took in her scent, apples, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, she smelled good enough to devour. She kissed, licked and nipped at his throat and jaw, paying particular attention to the steady pulse in his neck. Her free hand was exploring the tight muscles in his chest. Her curiosity was seductive as she rubbed her knuckles against his hardened nipples. He gripped her hips and pulled her back on top of him, grinding her against his growing erection.  
A low moan escaped her throat, and she claimed his lips. She sucked and nibbled on his lower lip, asking him for entry. He gave her what she wanted and was rewarded with a sweet purr from her throat. Her tongue battled with his, stroking, playing, exploring. She took from him and gave so much more. Her hips rocked against him. He didn’t know when the knife disappeared from his throat, but both of her hands were roaming his body. She cradled his face with both hands as though she was sipping from the goblet of eternal life. He felt the pads of her thumbs caress the underside of his jaw as she massaged the cords of his neck with her elegant fingers. She stroked his shoulders gently; she was fully aware of the damaged area and worked around it. She kissed and licked his collarbone, biting gently.   
Her hands moved lower to his chest, finding, exploring and tracing the definition in his muscles. He rolled his hips against her again, and her body arched up in response. The dress gaped invitingly in just the right places and hugged her form in others. He needed more from her. He needed answers, he knew how to get them, but damn he was enjoying her game. He decided to wait. Her hands splayed out, covering the muscles of his abdomen, she was gently caressing every ridge, every plane. She lowered her head to explore his chest with her clever lips and tongue. Her teeth rubbed roughly against his left nipple and white hot current shot through him. He thrust against her, she moaned in lust. She repeated the action, and he rewarded her again with a growl as he pushed against her bottom. “Fuck woman. Do you have any idea what you do to me?”  
“Tell me. Tell me what I do to you Riddick.” She demanded as she rubbed her fingernails against his right nipple, then she tongued his left, before biting gently. Her hands rubbed his abs, tickled his sensitive sides and her fingernails scratched his back.   
“You drive me to distraction. I want to keep you close. I want to own you. I want to possess everything that is you.” He gripped her hips again and pulled her back down on his own. He inwardly cursed the fact that they were both still fully clothed. She gasped and arched against his movements beneath her. Her movements were pushing him towards a climax. A climax that he wanted to hold back, he didn’t want her to have this power over him. He raised his hand to pull her down to his mouth. He needed to regain dominance over her. She caught his hand in hers and threaded her fingers through his own. He lifted the other and she caught that one too.   
“Then we feel the same.” She gasped as he lifted his hips against her, as he tried to lift her off. She rocked against him again and brought him even closer to the edge. She pulled one of his hands to her lips and started kissing and nibbling his fingers. It was erotic, she was stunning. He forgot for a moment that she was a virgin. This was not how a virgin acted, but her next words reminded him of her innocence. “You don’t feel like the others I have been compatible with. I have never felt this way before. Why Riddick? Why do I feel the desire to be devoured by you?”  
She bit his thumb hard, rolled her tongue around it and then sucked it gently, before moving to the index finger. She released his other hand and her fingers alternately brushed and scratch their way up his arm. Her hips rolled against him again and she subconsciously set a steady rhythm against him. She was pushing him higher and higher with her inexperienced explorations. Closer and closer, he tried his damnedest to hold it off but there was no use. She was relentless. The pleasure was intense, as he concentrated on what she was doing to him. Her steady movement over his groin coupled with the erotic exploration of his hands was becoming too much. She was sucking hard on his middle finger when he came against her.   
“Damn you, woman!” He growled as he spent his seed in his pants. She had promised him they would play and sure as hell she had kept that promise. He pushed her up, spun them both and dropped her into the seat. She gasped at the sudden change and tried to arch up out of the chair. He grabbed her wrist as suddenly it came up with her knife in hand. He fought for control of her knife and finally pulled it away. He dropped it on the seat behind him and he picked up his shiv. Her double edge blades would not work for what he had in mind. He finally had her back to where he wanted her, his shiv glinted threateningly on the pale skin of her belly. She moved to grab her other knife from her boot and he growled lowly in warning. Rethinking her move, she shifted her other leg further away, trying to keep him from taking her other knife. She didn’t seem at all concerned with the fact that her legs were suddenly spread in a very accommodating manner. He kept his shiv centered on her belly and placed his other hand on her knee. She jumped at the contact, surprised by his touch, his shiv bit her skin as she flinched against it. A tiny bead of blood pricked the creamy flesh. “My turn, Rehtaeh. Don’t move, don’t make a sound.”   
He ran his hand slowly up her thigh, letting his fingers softly knead the sensitive skin as he went. He had just reached the hem of her dress when her thighs slammed back together capturing his hand between them. Her heart was racing and she had stopped breathing, holding her breath. She shivered delightfully for him. He spread his fingers, up and out, covering as much of the sensitive flesh as he could reach under the pressure of her thighs, then he squeezed, and she shuddered against his hand.  
“You are compatible with Heath,” Riddick said to her. It was not a question. He wanted her to tell him on her own.  
“Yes, familial connection. Subtle, warm, soothing. Not the same!” Rehtaeh whispered each word came as a gasp, the last word came out as a squeak. Adorable. She was always so forthcoming with information. She waited for a long moment when he didn’t move his hand anymore, she started to relax. It was subtle the movement, the release of her strong muscles. In that fraction of a second, he moved his hand and pushed her dress higher up on her hips, revealing the bottom of her black silk lace panties. She bucked and gasped at the sudden movement, her heart racing.  
“And the Merc?” Riddick leaned down over her, using the back of his shiv he caressed the flesh of her thighs, and moved up slowly careful not to scratch her tender flesh. He was watching her reaction to the cold metal, and was rewarded with a small moan as he rubbed the dull metal into the moist spot that collected in the fabric of her panties.  
She was gasping softly as she answered, “He was warm, like you when I first met you.” He growled low in his throat, not liking this answer. He rubbed the metal against her again and she bucked against it and keened softly. She continued on, “I hated him on sight, Riddick. He was not you.”  
“Take off your glasses.” He ordered her; he wanted to see her face, her eyes. Those beautiful, expressive eyes. She didn’t move, she was holding her breath, and trying not to pant as his hand played with the top edge of her underwear under the hem of her dress. He lowered his voice to a warning, “Do it now, Rehtaeh.”   
Her right hand reached up and took off the glasses. He didn’t realize how badly she was shaking until they trembled in her grasp. Her eyes were wide and dark. The silver pupils dominated the thunderous purple irises; they were dilated wide in arousal. She glanced up over her head to where the others were still asleep on the small sleep pods that were built into the wall. Shaking his head once he dismissed her fears and with one swift move he pulled down her panties enough to allow him to see the treasures hidden underneath. Her feet scrabbled against the floor, her hands clenched, then released, and her glasses fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Her growled at her. He brushed his fingers into the soft blonde curls when he found her most sensitive nub she bucked violently beneath him and whimpered softly. He circled around it, and he heard her teeth click together as she tried not to cry out. She was breathing hard. One finger and he had her so close on the verge of intense pleasure. What would she be like when he was able to touch all of her unimpeded? He moved his shiv to the floor so that he could concentrate on watching her.  
“How is it different?” He asked her, watching as her hands moved to tightly grip the hand rests, her knuckles were beginning to turn white. The purple rings around the silver eyes were intense; her eyes were wide with wonder and clenched shut when the pleasure became too extreme.  
“What?” She blinked up at him looking shocked and confused; she had gotten completely distracted by what he was doing to her. He hummed in approval.  
“How is my touch different?” He leaned into her, breathing in the scent of her arousal. “How is it different from the Mercs?”   
“Intensity is profound!” She gasped, she tried squeezing her legs back together and he growled in warning, she released immediately, “more extreme, each time, its hotter. Riddick!”  
He brushed the over-sensitized nub again, stroking her gently, stoking the fire he could see burning within her. She was watching him her eyes on his face as he stroked the tiny sensitive bead, he moved his finger faster and faster. Her hips bucked again, a spasm in her body she could not control. Her back arched up, pushing her core up to meet his exploring hand. Her body knew what her mind did not. This was only the beginning. He circled again and she reached climax, her entire body clenched fiercely. Her eyes rolled up and she released a silent scream, at that moment he wanted her in a bed, just so he could make her scream, loudly, violently, again and again. He was hard again, hard as a rock and he wanted nothing more than to make her his.  
When she was done, he touched her core, a promise to her that he would be back for more. He wanted to feel how wet he had made her. She was soaking, burning for him, so hot and moist. It took everything in him not to take her right then. Instead he brought his damp fingers up to her mouth, touching her lips waiting for entrance when she opened her mouth her tongue tentatively licked his fingers. He put them in her mouth one at a time letting her suck them clean. When she was done, he leaned over her and claimed her mouth, tasting her both ways at once. She was exquisite. Perhaps it was her innocence, her strange reaction to him or the fact that she was so much like him in so many ways, but she was a Siren to him. He ground his mouth against hers, claiming her and taking everything she would give him. When he pulled away, they were both breathing hard.   
“Good game Rehtaeh, we should play again soon.” He whispered to her and chuckled at the blush that blossomed across her cheeks. Then he helped her adjust her dress, she picked up her glasses, and her music player and the small computer, which had all been forgotten during their game. Her knife and his shiv were back in their hiding places where they belonged. They still had to deal with the mess on the table from his impromptu surgery.   
“Damn it. What have I done?” she whispered when she turned and saw the others sleeping mere feet away and she turned bright red. He could tell she felt ashamed, and she was confused by what she had instigated. She looked like a small bird that was ready to take flight. She was scared. She was ready to run.   
He couldn’t allow that. So he pulled her onto his lap, threading his hand through her hair bringing her closer and closer to him. Her hands were between them clutching her belongings for dear life. “Never be ashamed of what we do together. It is not theirs to judge, and what is between us is beautiful. Do you understand, Rehtaeh?”   
“Yes.” She whispered softly. She was still so uncertain, so innocent. Too innocent for someone like him. He would destroy her if he let this get too far. He wanted everything she would give him. He was addicted to her responsiveness and her scent and the animal inside of her that she was keeping controlled. She had let it come out to play and now he wanted to keep it unleashed and unrestrained. What the hell was wrong with him? He kissed her hard, claiming her as his with his mouth. He needed to show his dominance, prove to her that she was his and his alone. He would not share her.  
“Good. Go. There should be a cabin upstairs, use it. Get some rest.” Riddick dismissed her, she clumsily gathered the rest of her things a bolted to the back of the ship. Once again, he was left straining against his pants, and his discomfort served to remind him that he needed to get her out of his system. She was everything he couldn’t have.   
He cleaned up the medical supplies that were left on the table and put that away as well. He could already feel his body take over the healing of the wound Rehtaeh had repaired. He rolled his shoulders and once again admired her abilities. He heard the shower running in the loft above him and shook off the urge to join her. Instead he returned to his seat, leaned back and put his feet up on the console. He relaxed there, fading in and out of a very restive sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23  
Rehtaeh  
There was a cabin. It was more of a loft really, tiny and rustic, and the bed was like the one's Jack, Suleiman, and Imam were sleeping on below, just a bit wider to accommodate two people. There was even a small shower and washroom at the very back. She brought her backpack with her and set it on the floor near the bed. Close by in case there was another emergency where they would have to abandon ship. She slipped out of the dress and looked it over. There were a few rips and tears in the soft lace, but nothing that a needle and proper thread couldn’t fix. She folded it and put it aside, along with the underwear she had been wearing.   
Then she climbed into the shower sighing in relief as the hot water washed over her sore muscles. The Medics were able to fix the outer wounds and had even repaired her ribs but there was some residual pain as the medicines worked in her body. Healing all the new injuries she had gotten in their most recent escape. The heat from the shower helped massage the pain away.   
She leaned against the wall and let the water wash over her has she thought about what had just happened. What the hell was she doing? She should never have started her game. She should have stopped as soon as his wound was taken care of. Yet she had not. Was she a sucker for punishment? Yes, she loved him. She had told him that she loved him. But they both knew there was no future in this relationship. Damn it! Remner was after her hide, wanting to use her for his messed up experiments. He was a convict, had Mercs after him all the time, he would always be on the run. She should be keeping him at a distance not teasing him! Frustrated, she shook off her thoughts and used the soaps and lotions provided in the dispensers and cleaned and rinsed her body. When she was finally clean, she stepped out of the shower and toweled herself off.   
She rummaged in her pack and grabbed the pajamas that she still had stowed inside. The soft cotton flannel button down “men’s style” shirt enveloped her like a warm hug. Her mom had picked out the fabric just for her knowing that she would love the black with red pinstripes and had red piping added to make it look and feel like a proper men’s shirt.   
Remner was after her. A chill ran down her spine as the thought popped into her mind. Remembering the horrible doctor and his penchant for talking to her while he abused her body. Remner wanted her back under his thumb. When she checked her communications to find anything she could on this supposed bounty on her, Tiller confirmed it was true, she just didn’t have the name of the culprit. Sure enough, there was something there, but he camouflaged it in Alliance red tape. He made it look like someone at the Medical Research Department had pulled enough strings to have her hunted down and put back into cryo. As though she was some rabid animal. Tiller was pissed and was on the hunt for whoever had put in the entry, she was going to the top to plead her case. Until they had it rectified, she was to be very careful when she reached New Mecca. Rehtaeh knew it was Remner who entered the hit, but contact with her specialist was a one-way street. She had no way to tell Tiller who was after her. So Rehtaeh needed to plan. If she wasn’t safe in New Mecca, and she couldn’t go with Riddick to UV, where the hell did that leave her? She shook off the thought, she needed sleep and it would be a couple of weeks before they got to New Mecca, she had time. Right now, she needed rest.  
She climbed onto the cot-like bed and tried to rest but sleep was too far away. She kept thinking of him, the hard lines of his face, and the small crease between his brows as he concentrated on her and her body. The glory of his body under her fingertips, his solid and warm flesh against hers as it burned into her memory. The hard ridges and dips between his muscles. Recalling the touch of his hands on her skin she began to burn for him again. Just thinking about what had happened had her mind spinning. Hell, he had almost made her climax with a damn shiv. Of all things! She growled and jumped out bed as though someone had set it on fire. She couldn’t just lie there and think about him, she would never sleep. Besides her stomach was raging for food, it had been days since she had last eaten anything.   
So she went below, it was quiet and since she didn’t want to wake anyone, she crept silently on the pads of her feet. She could see through the gaps in the steep staircase as she climbed down it like a ladder. She noticed that Riddick had cleaned up the medical supplies and the table was anchored back in its place beside the tiny galley kitchen. Her feet hadn’t even touched the main cabin floor when she heard movement and watched as Imam joined Riddick in the cockpit, sitting on the now vacant co-pilot seat. She hid in the darkness and willed herself to become one of the shadows hiding there.  
“Trouble?” Riddick asked sitting up, looking around the ship. Rehtaeh pressed back into the shadows. His eyes swept the ship and seemed to pass right over her. A crease marred his brow as he swept the darkness once again, seeing nothing he turned back to Imam. Not once had his eyes stopped on her form in the darkness. It was as though he had not seen her hiding there. Was that even possible? He could see perfectly well in the darkness, he should have spotted her.  
“Yes,” The holy man told him, he was staring off into space. Riddick set parameters for a check for ships that might be following them. “It is nothing back there, what worries me lies ahead of us.”   
“Jack,” Riddick stated, he seemed to know exactly where the conversation was going to go. He relaxed back into his seat. His demeanor was almost dismissive, as though the kid really wasn’t his problem.  
“What I am concerned for her, Riddick.” Imam confided in him. “That she’ll become-,”  
“Like me.” They sat there contemplating those thoughts for several minutes.  
“Or Rehtaeh. On the outside the woman is a joy, a paradox, she is wonderful.” Imam said as Riddick growled audibly, Rehtaeh watched him carefully. “But I sense the darkness in her. She is violent and rash. She left Carolyn behind.”  
“Carolyn was near death. Rehtaeh arranged her healing and for her care. You underestimate her Imam.” Riddick told the other man. His gravelly defense of her made her heart sing for just a moment. Still Rehtaeh couldn’t help the pang of hurt at Imam’s words. The truth always hurt, she was violent when she needed to be. However she was not rash, every move she made was calculated. She had known that Heath would wake quickly. Had known that he would be willing to help them escape, she had even known that he would watch over Carolyn. Her bet was that Heath was not a pilot and would need Carolyn to get to New Mecca. The release of the cons was another accurate calculation. They were the perfect diversion to keep the Mercs off of them. She had not been wrong. Her mind was deep in thought about what had happened on the Merc ship until something on the ship’s computer pinged. A screen popped up for a planet in the UV system. She could see it from her vantage point, UV planet 6.  
“What is that place?” Imam asked him, in curiosity.  
“That is nowhere,” Riddick told him, his low vibrato made her shiver. “I am dropping you guys on New Mecca.”  
Rehtaeh knew better, that was his escape route. His tone of voice told her everything she needed to know. In order to protect Jack from himself, he was going to put the universe between them. He would do the same to her. She would never have him forever. If she wanted any part of him, she would have to steel herself for goodbye. There was no way that he could stay with her, or she with him. As much as she loved him, she could never be the one to hold him back. She would never be the reason he got caught. Not a soul would ever learn what she knew; she would die before it happened. That information would go with her to her grave. His safety was that important to her. The big question was, was he worth it? Was he worth the pain of heartbreak?   
Considering her A.D.S. the likelihood of finding someone who got to her like he did was slim to none. She may never meet anyone like him ever again. She decided right then. She would take everything he could give her, and she would let him go when the time came. She would deal with the consequences later.  
Her stomach growled reminding her that she was in dire need of food, so she stepped down from the last step and moved quietly to the tiny galley kitchen that was onboard. She opened up the little refrigerator, the freezer and cupboards, taking stock of all the ingredients that had been prepped for the trip. There were fresh goods; she would actually be able to cook something. She took out a package of frozen mixed berries and put them into the food warmer to defrost then she mixed up eggs, flour, and milk to make crepes, she had even found some thick cream. She sniffed and taste-tested all of the ingredients just to make sure that they were labeled properly. This would be the best breakfast she had had, well, since before her parents had died.   
For some reason, she always seemed to cook for nine people. It must have been ingrained into her system, from years and years of helping her mother cook for the family. So of course she made way too much. She hoped everyone was hungry, or this food would go to waste. She filled her plate with the crepes, with fruit rolled up inside and topped with fresh cream and moved to the front of the ship to sit at the tiny kitchenette table. She purposely ignored Riddick and Imam, who were watching her with curiosity. She took a bite and nearly melted. Her eyes rolled up into her head as she savored her meal. “Mmmm. I am a good cook. Best meal I’ve had in years. You guys should eat before it gets cold.”  
There was no arm twisting for them, they were easily as hungry as she was. They both moved to the little galley to see what she had made. Suleiman must have smelled the food in his sleep because suddenly he was up and elbowing his way between them to get his share. It was a teenage boy thing, her brothers could smell food cooking a mile away and they had always fought for their spot at the table. Jack woke as well and joined in the fray. They sounded like a family and it pulled at her heart.   
“Hey, Riddick, What happened to your shirt?” The curious teen asked as she dished up her food.   
“Rehtaeh cut it off,” Riddick smirked, as he wolfed down a bite of his crepe. Everyone turned to look at her, and she turned beet red.   
“He refused to take it off, and I needed to fix his shoulder,” Rehtaeh mumbled sheepishly around her last bite. She finished eating and cleaned up her dishes, giving up her seat to Jack when she arrived with her plate full to nearly overflowing. She got up from her chair and caught Jack staring at her, “What?”  
“You steal that from an old flame or something, Rehtaeh?” Jack asked eyeing the extra large flannel shirt, Riddick stopped eating to look at her, his face was a hard, emotionless mask. Rehtaeh couldn’t help but blush. It wasn’t like the hemline was too short, hell it came to just above her knees. And the top button was just above the middle of her breasts, so nothing was hanging out. Hell, it hid more than it showed, what was the problem?  
“Nope, it was made for me. My mom figured it was the best way to keep me from stealing my brother’s shirts and using them for painting and sleeping.” Rehtaeh told her. “For some reason, men’s shirts just feel better for painting and sleeping in.”  
“There you go Riddick; you can just steal her shirt.” Jack teased heartlessly, a grin on her face.  
“Don’t think I can make it look that sexy,” Riddick said as he leaned back and perused her body. Even behind the goggles, she could feel his eyes on her.  
“Because shirtless with cargos isn’t sexy enough,” Rehtaeh muttered under her breath. Jack and Riddick were the only ones who heard her. Jack cracked up laughing while Riddick’s lip curled in that sexy sardonic sneer he had. Something pulled inside her as she looked at him for a long moment. Yeah, he was worth any heartache that would come. She yawned then, as exhaustion hit her. Her body’s needs were all sated; all but the need for sleep. She excused herself and headed toward the stern of the ship and stumbled twice before reaching the steep stairs and climbed into the loft.   
Even the stiff cot and the thin blanket didn’t impede on her sleep in any way, she was gone the moment her head hit the flat pillow. Her dreams started out with her and Riddick. He was just as he had been at breakfast, Cargos, no shirt. His glorious defined muscles, smooth tanned skin, strong and lean and powerful exposed to her touch. Her hands were exploring him, every inch of him. He was doing the same to her, caressing, kissing, him playing games with her, trying to make her go out of her mind with want. There was more and she wanted it all. She wanted him to take her and make her his, in every possible way. Just as things were about to get intense, she was ripped from his arms, her body frozen in flux.   
She was levitating above a massive field of gravestones, a cemetery as far as her eye could see. Riddick was no longer there. He was safe, she knew this. He had his own path. The one she looked over was her own. There were mountains in the distance, and she knew that her destiny lay in that direction. She tried to move, she really did, but she was caught. Completely paralyzed in the shackles of some source she didn’t understand. She looked at her arms and legs and noticed that she was strung up in some contraption made of steel. It was cutting into her flesh. Her blood was dripping, dripping, dripping onto the black earth below her.   
The ground absorbed her blood greedily and as it did it grew and grew, rising up to touch her feet. It rose until it was covering her toes, filling the crevices between them, layering the tops of her feet. The earth crept slowly up her shins, she was being swallowed alive! She struggled against it, crying for help. The wind began to blow, brushing the dirt away. As it did, the soil turned to dust on the wind and as it whipped around her she was being sandblasted. Her flesh was being rubbed and scraped apart! She had moved from one hell to the next, finding no relief. ‘Please, someone, please! Help me! Let me go!’  
The mountains in the distance started to erupt into massive volcanoes. Their hot ash, stone, and magma flew at her. She was hit by hundreds of tiny burning projectiles. It was like being peppered by the shrapnel of a bomb. She was slowly being sliced apart by hot knives! Fires spread all around her, searing her flesh and covering her in hot ash. Finally, it started to rain. The cool, moist water soothed her wounds and tamped the dust and earth. It doused the flames and washed over the ground where she was shackled. The waters started to rise, mixing with the earth to make mud. Mixing with the air to hit her face and body at a steady pummeling speed as it rained down on her. The winds picked up, battering her and whipping against her, her hair rose and snapped like a white blonde flag in the wind. The volcano spewed forth increasing the temperature boiling the water around her. She was being torn asunder by the beating elements, and she was left exposed to their greedy hands. Each one wanted her blood. All of her blood, until she was nothing more than bone and then marrow and then dust.  
Still she could not move, her spirit was trapped, like her body had been. She was a being of light and love and soul. Yet still something held her in that spot. She tried to see it and when she did she saw the man in the crown with the black leather entrapments. He was behind her walking forward at an agonizingly slow pace and when he finally came around to face her, he asked her. ‘Who are you?’   
Her soul responded, ‘I am the sister time forgot, the heart of seven. I am red on black.’   
He laughed; it was wild, evil, and monstrous.   
‘You are no one’ he told her and his wicked dagger shredded her soul, tearing her from the world.   
She woke with a gasp, still feeling as though her entire being had been taken from her, and she sat there chilled to the bone, her heart aching. She started to cry. Why? Why was she being plagued by these dreams? Ever since she had been taken out of cryo, she had been troubled by these horrible dreams. So much worse than the one she had always had as a child.  
She reached over and grabbed her backpack, she tore at the zipper desperately trying to get it to open. She needed to get these dreams out of her head. All of them. She needed them out. She grabbed the one sketchpad that she called the ‘DreamPad’ and her pencil case. When she finally had what she needed, she sat up leaning against the wall at the head of the bed and started to draw. Page after page, she drew each dream, franticly drew the images that were plaguing her sleeping hours. Pouring out the emotions that she had felt during each one.   
People came and went, talked to her, she answered them. Told them she would be down later, that she needed to finish what she was doing first. She heard the shower, her body heated when she felt Riddick’s presence. He asked her if she was okay, she told him no, not yet. She said she needed more time. He didn’t make a move to touch her, didn’t check to see what she was doing. She smelled food cooking the aromas rising to her nose, and Jack call her for dinner, but she was driven. She needed to get this crap out of her system. It was the only way she would be able to put it all in perspective.   
She drew until she was done. Until every last horrible image had been exorcised from her mind and filled the pages with color and scenes, she could otherwise never be able to describe. She flipped through them, analyzing each one. Remembering how they happened, what she had felt and what they could possibly portend. She knew dreams could be interpreted. Sometimes even foretell events that were yet to come. If that was the case with her, she was in for a load of hurt.   
Finally putting her sketchbook aside on the bed cover she stood up. She really needed to take care of her bodily needs. She had stopped only a few times, mostly to use the washroom, now she realized that she smelled horrible and she was starving yet again. Looking at her chromos, she realized that she had been drawing for over sixteen hours. No wonder she felt like shit. She did her business and then climbed into the shower and nearly melted when the water washed over her body. Washing quickly, she scoured the sweat and stink from her body, knowing that she needed to get food into her system and the sooner, the better. She dried herself off and started trying to get the long strands of her hair to stop dripping as she walked out of the washroom. Half way to the bed, she realized that Riddick was reclined in it, flipping through the pages of her sketch book. She was naked, he was there, and he was currently sifting through her dreams. Dreams that he had suddenly started showing up in.   
She looked at him, then her backpack which was leaned right up against the side of the bed. Forgoing her attempt at drying her hair, she wrapped the towel around her body instead. Then she took a deep breath and walked silently to her bag. She knelt down and was rummaging through it pulling out all of her clothes. She could either put on the red dress again or wear her pajamas again. Both of which were dirty, she really didn’t want to wear the soiled clothes again. She would have to see if there was a clothes washer onboard so she could do her laundry. The only clothes she had that were clean were a pair of skinny jeans and her gym strip, which consisted of black booty shorts and a sports bra. Cleanliness won out, she chose the gym strip. She grabbed what she needed and stuffed everything else back in the bag.   
“Are you back?” He growled at her, she flinched at the anger she heard there. She looked up at him through the strands of her hair. “Have you rejoined the living? What the hell is all of this? These are really morbid, Rehtaeh.”  
“Yes, I – I needed catharsis. It was too much.” She whispered. She looked at the image he was looking at; it was near the last, the one where she was being torn apart by the elements. “They are my nightmares, every time I sleep.”   
He dropped the book back onto the bed and stood in one swift movement, hauling her to her feet and pinned her to the wall behind her. It took everything in her to keep her composure and to not drop the ends of the towel. “You keep disappearing into your head. You keep pulling away from me. I want you aware of me. Always.”  
She was shocked by those words, she was always aware of his presence. Even when she had been drawing, she had been aware. She had known exactly where he was in proximity to her the entire time. Had heard every word he had said to her. “I am! I’m always aware of you. Your touch sets me on fire. How can I not be aware of that?”  
“I mean that if shit happens, I want you to be listening,” Riddick told her looking down at her. His face was the emotionless mask as always, but his anger was barely leashed. She could tell because his usually steady heart beat had accelerated. She reached up and touched his chest right above his heart. He flinched at the contact, having not expected it.  
“If you haven’t noticed, you are the only one I do listen to.” She told him her own anger was rising to meet his. She had never listened to Johns or Carolyn or even May or Mac when they had given her an order. It had always been him. When he gave her a direct command she had listened, every one of her instincts had trusted in him. “I generally don’t follow orders. I listened to you because my instincts felt you were right.”  
“Then why didn’t you join us down below?” Riddick growled at her.  
“You didn’t ask. Imam asked Jack asked, even Suleiman. You did not.” Her hand above his heart pointed at his sternum. “You asked if I was okay, I told you I was not. Not yet. Those were the only words you spoke to me, and I to you.”  
“I wanted you down there. Heath contacted us on the com. Said there is a price on your head.” Riddick growled at her, his anger had not lessened. “I asked Imam to get you since I was talking to your nephew. You didn’t listen.”  
“I am aware of the tag. My contact informed me last night, right before you, um, you started messing with me.” She felt the blush heat her cheeks and shoulders as she remembered what they had done together and how she had responded. What the hell was wrong with her? Nothing, she told herself, she wanted him, and there was nothing wrong with that.   
“You knew this and didn’t think to tell me?” He yelled in her face, she flinched away for just a moment. What the hell, did he suddenly think she was incapable of taking care of herself? “If we show up in New Mecca and someone has their guns drawn, then what? How do you know that the messages haven’t been tracked?”  
“I am not stupid Riddick; I covered my ass, as I always cover my ass! Or have you already forgotten?” she yelled back, her heart was pounding the adrenaline was pumping now. This fight had been brewing for a while, and it was making her careless. “I don’t recall ever needing a keeper. I outlived my last bodyguard, and I sure as hell didn’t ask for another one! So who the fuck made you my master?”  
“You did!” Riddick yelled his hands were on her shoulders and he shook her once. Her head hit the wall. “You gave yourself to me the moment you told me you loved me.”  
“Bullshit! You were ready to leave me on that fucking rock!” She yelled back at him, slamming her palms on his chest. “Do not tell me that all of a sudden my feelings mean something to you! You didn’t care then so why the hell would you now? If I hadn’t taken that cell and played you, I would be fucking dead right now and a distant fucking memory to you! So don’t you dare!”  
“How far did your game go, Rehtaeh? How much of it was a lie.” Riddick’s voice dropped back into a menacing growl. “Tell me. Tell the poor pathetic con you have feelings for him, so he’ll what, save your ass?”   
“Like I need you to save my ass?” Rehtaeh countered hotly, her hands were clenching into fists in her rage. “I was injured and I still held my own. I don’t need you.”  
“Then what was the point of the lie, Rehtaeh? Get close so you can turn me in once we reach New Mecca?” He looked about ready to strangle her, and she was feeling pretty much the same about him. She was livid.   
“You think, you think I want to turn you in, Riddick? How much is your bounty?” Rehtaeh asked him, her voice was barely above a whisper; her anger had reached a new height.   
“Over one million UD, but you know that, you have already looked up my Merc file.” He growled at her. “You gonna start over somewhere in some cushy life with the bounty money?”  
“First of all, I have never read your Merc file. I couldn’t care less about what’s in it. If you wanna keep your life secret, that’s your deal. And second, I am one of the wealthiest women in the entire universe. I can buy whatever fucking planet I want, and retire! Never have to work again! What the hell would I want with your bounty? It is a drop in the bucket compared to what I already have!” She hollered at him, her voice cracking under her rage. She pushed against him trying to create space between them. She pushed past him, grabbed her backpack and set it on the bed, grabbing her wallet with her original ID cards and the old cash that was in it. Then she reached back into the pack and she opened the little secret pocket and pulled out all three of the UD cards that she had and turned to him. “You don’t believe me? This is my UD card, I have over five hundred million UD sitting in my account; one million for every year I was on ice plus interest accumulated. These two are for my escorts. They are fully transferable, non-traceable, and worth five million UD each. Now you can take both of them, or you can give one to Imam. Do whatever you like with them, but don’t ever accuse me of using you for your bounty.” She tossed it all on the bed on top of her sketch book.  
“Then why the fuck did you tell me that you love me? Why lie?” Riddick snapped at her, he grabbed her wrist and spun her towards him. She clung to the towel with her other hand, determined not to let it fall.  
“I did not lie to you. I love you, which means I am trying to fucking protect your stubborn ass from ever getting caught. The last thing I want is for you to be turned in!” She growled back, but she could see that he didn’t believe a word she was saying. He was questioning her integrity and her feelings for him. Love was not something that she just tossed around lightly. She had never felt the emotion before, had never understood the intensity. The desire to shield and protect, to comfort and hold, everything about this was completely new to her. “I told you that because I knew it would throw you off, and you would show your true feelings. You had been messing with me all day, toying with my emotions, as well as my reaction to you. I told you that I love you, and you ran. I knew then that I was right to have kept the cell. I knew you would never have come back for me.”  
“I thought about it.” He whispered, so soft she wasn’t sure she heard him right.  
“But you didn’t, Riddick. You came back for the power cell.” She grabbed her clothes and walked to the washroom shutting him out. She pulled on her booty shorts tugging at them angrily, trying her hardest to breathe and calm down. Then she did the same with her sports bra. She looked in the mirror and saw how much flesh she was revealing. She thought of the man out there who always seemed to want to devour her and suddenly felt naked and exposed. She picked up her night shirt which she had left hanging on the hook and pulled it on over top. She fumbled the buttons several times before they went in the holes, then she realized that the buttons were messed up and had to redo it. Finally dressed, she left the bathroom.   
He was standing by the bed, looking down at all three of the cards. His heartbeat had returned to normal. He didn’t turn his head to look at her, didn’t acknowledge her in any way. She opened up her backpack and took out the little tablet computer, and after a long moment of thought she pulled out her other sketch book. It was one that she never showed anyone. It was one in which she drew her desires, her memories, the images which were the most personal to her. She flipped it open to her favorite picture and threw it on the bed on top of the cards and then went to the stairs. Before she went down she turned back to him and whispered, “I love you, and I won’t ask you to stay with me, but if you leave, you had better come back for me and not because I have something you need.”


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24  
Riddick  
He was looking at the UD cards when the book dropped on top. He had been looking at those cards wondering why the hell she would confide to him that she was a multimillionaire, what game she was playing now. She expected him to leave her? Then he saw the drawing. It was a portrait in incredible detail and accuracy of him and her, and three children, two boys and a girl, all roughly the same age. They were in a meadow, with mountains in the distance. She was on her side lying on a bed of wildflowers, her face pulled into a laugh as she watched him, being climbed on by their children. The boys, one was hugging his leg the other had climbed to his shoulder and the little girl was in his arms giving him kisses on his cheek. The boys looked just like him; the girl was the spitting image of her. They were happy, a beautiful family. It was stunning; it was something that he had never considered possible. Not for him. Apparently she too, thought it unattainable. The caption at the bottom: ‘Impossible Dreams’ by Ennaline.  
Who was Ennaline? He flipped through all of the drawings. There were pictures of two people who were obviously her parents they were staring adoringly into each other’s eyes, it was called ‘Infatuation’. There was a group of six portraits of men, all the same age, each with a slightly different way of carrying themselves, similar and yet different. There was one of them all together, lifting Rehtaeh high over their heads, she was laughing and trying to stay balanced on their hands. It was captioned ‘Brotherly Love’. There was one of just him called ‘Predator’ crouched on top of a rock formation, looking out into the distance, his goggles covering his eyes. He looked ready to strike at someone or something passing below. This sketchbook was filled with love and emotions, she was not one for speaking and eloquence, but her drawings held a lifetime of stories that whispered to him. Every one of them was signed Ennaline.  
He turned to the last page and stopped. It was of him holding her, his hands on her hips, pressing her to him. He had a small sardonic smile curving his lips, she was looking up at him, her eyes wide, and her lips parted in a small gasp, her right hand hovered over his heart. He wasn’t wearing his goggles, and he was looking down into her bared eyes. It was an intimate picture, intended to evoke pleasure and passion, to be kept private and secret. Like being a voyeur standing outside and looking in. It was entitled ‘Forbidden’. She seemed to think that he was off limits to her. That he was someone she needed to hold away from her, regardless of her emotions for him. Then he realized it. She wanted these things, she wanted him, and that family, but she knew he couldn’t stay. He closed the book and looked at the cover; it was black leather, engraved and embroidered with the lines of a blood red rose. In the bottom corner carved into the leather was the signature of R. Ennaline.  
He picked up the UD cards, and then her wallet, he put the cards into their slots. It had been a careless tactless accusation. He never had anyone care for him the way she said she did, he had never known anyone like her before. He was about to close the wallet when he saw her identification card in the little plastic covered pocket, it had a picture of her. She was basically scowling at the person taking the picture. Her eyes looked particularly dark in her pale face. Her date of birth was five hundred and twenty-five years ago. According to the Chronos by the bed, her birthday was tomorrow. Her name was Rehtaeh Ennaline Furya.   
Furya. That explained why Chillingsworth had been so keen on showing Rehtaeh her prize. Couldn’t help but rub it in that some member of her family line had been a convict and that she had him. Good thing the woman hadn’t known what kind of spitfire she was dealing with. He closed the wallet and stacked her books and set them all beside the bed. Then he put his goggles back on and went downstairs. Imam, Suleiman, and Jack had all checked themselves into Cryo, they wouldn’t wake again until just before landing in new Mecca. He had set a more direct course to the Helion System, which saved months of travel time, but they were still two weeks out.   
Rehtaeh sat at the tiny kitchenette table and was finishing her meal. It was leftovers of the meal he had made hours earlier. If her heartbeat was any indication, she was still angry with him. She didn’t look up at him, didn’t indicate in any way that she was interested in talking to him. Ignoring him completely she rose from the table, cleaned her plate and walked out of the room towards the back of the ship. He heard her slamming things around, and then he heard her haul something heavy out of storage. The computer was left open on the table. The holographic projector was turned on and there were several files open. She had left it for him.  
The first tab was opened to the current summary of her life. It was basically what he had read in the new feeds, with little more meat and potatoes in the details. When he was done reading it, he opened the next tab.  
There was her actual story, the old time headlines, the images and files from her real life. He learned of her military childhood and training. She had as much if not more training than he had. It was a complete listing of her education, her talents, her hobbies and her social life or lack thereof. He found out that she had a relatively violent past, for which she had been in the news as a child. She had a Juvie Record and had run away from home several times at the age of thirteen. A psych analysis of her and an evaluation of her physical, mental and emotional stability had been completed during her stint in Juvenile Detention. There were pictures of her parents, and her brothers, with a complete file on each and every one of them explaining their traits and talents. Finally, there were the reports on the deaths of her parents. Her arrest, her trial and her sentencing. It was all there.   
It was the third tab where he finally met ‘Voodoo’. It was the file that showed what she had lived through for the last half millennia. There was a constant video of her and there were occasionally pictures of her. Her naked body had needles, tubes and machines hooked to nearly every part of her body. In each picture the tech and personnel had changed, but the number of needles and hoses and tubes and monitors had not. She looked like a voodoo doll, completely covered in needles. He flipped through the files, just to get an idea of the types of procedures that they were doing to her. They had literally taken samples from every part of her body. She wasn’t just a test subject for her brothers’ planet, her tissues and genetic samples were sent to planets all over the solar system. They had taken five of her eggs, for use on a separate project on a planet that was having problems with fertility and survival.   
There was one scientist, near the end of her time in cryo who would take samples from her on a daily basis. He seemed to be a sick bastard, he never seemed to care about how much force he used on her body, and he was overly familiar with her. Touching her for overly extended periods in places that were very much inappropriate, for months and years on end he had forced his touch on her. The only thing he had not done to her was rape her. In the end, he seemed to be almost unaware that there were video feeds on her cryo pod at all. Rehtaeh hadn’t only been subjected to medical abuse. She had been subjected to sexual abuse. Riddick wanted to tear the man apart.  
What angered him most was the fact that she had been fully awake for the entire thing. Her dominant animal side had kept her from going into true cryo, unable to sleep, to dream, or to rest. She had been unable to fight back or defend herself in any way. In every picture, her eyes were open and he could see the pain in them. Her eyes had always been full of life. Always watching what they were doing to her, aware of the pain that they carelessly caused her body. They had used her, abused her, and harmed her in so many ways. Any normal person would have gone completely insane, and yet she seemed entirely normal. Yes, she could be violent, but she was also gentle and thoughtful and tried to do her best for others. Even if they didn’t understand her or her reasoning. She had taken the fourth cell, not just for herself, but for Jack and the others. She had made sure they all got off the planet. If it hadn’t been for her Carolyn would be dead, and perhaps even Jack.  
He closed the files and went to the back of the ship, she had pulled a portable gym out of the closet and was in the middle of doing a set of weighted squats. She was sweating heavily and had taken off the big shirt to reveal short black shorts that barely covered her bottom and a sports bra. She wore nothing else. Her muscles were straining and inflamed. She seemed even more defined than she had before while at rest. Every line of her body was perfection. He waited until she set down the weights and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off her forehead before he spoke.  
“When?” He asked her quietly, he watched as she draped the towel over a railing and finally turned to look up at him, he was not surprised to see the shadows of anger still burning in her eyes. “When did you draw it?”  
“Three days before the crash, sitting in the passenger bay,” Rehtaeh told him, it was barely a whisper. Her voice sounded raw, full of some unnamed emotion. “When dreams were still possible, and the world wasn’t falling apart.”  
“And the others?” Riddick growled, there was no way she could have known about his eyes.  
“When we first arrived at the commune,” Rehtaeh whispered as she realized that he was talking about the other drawing of him and her. She blushed deeply.  
“I can’t promise you that, Rehtaeh,” Riddick told her.   
“I know. I won’t hold you to me.” It came out husky and choked, he could barely hear her. “I will take what I can get, for as long as I can have it.”  
“You don’t know what you are offering me,” Riddick told her, trying to get her to step away before he got her hurt or killed.   
“I am not a child; I have not been one for a very, very long time. I know what I want Riddick.” She met his eyes. There was a strong angry spark in them, throwing his challenge back at him. She changed the subject, as though she had already made up her mind. “Right now everyone assumes you are dead, and I am the one with a target on my back. Not you.”  
“You need to tell me about these things,” Riddick told her. How the hell was he supposed to keep her safe if she was too busy trying to do the same for him to care about herself? Why the hell did he want to keep her safe? What the hell was with these protective emotions for her? All of his instincts screamed at him to keep her close. “Tell me everything you know about the hit.”   
“The communications are purely one way. My specialist contacts me, I never contact her. That way I am untraceable. For extra precaution, I disabled the trackers on the pad. I also turned off the tracker on the ship when you weren’t looking. I blocked all incoming traces on our ship, the only reason Heath was able to contact us was because I gave him access to a com line.” She informed him. He had seen her using the com system, but he hadn’t realized that she had gone to such an extent to keep them hidden. “My contact is certain this is an inside job, her theory is that the Medical Research Division isn’t too keen on giving up their favorite guinea pig. So they put a bounty on me to bring me in alive. Her division is doing an investigation and she is going to plead my case again at the Supreme Court level. Considering they have already granted me my freedom after spending an extra four hundred years in cryo they really shouldn’t have the authority to revoke my release, especially with a contract of Immunity in place. The problem is I can’t go to Helion Prime until it is cleared up since the bounty specifies that I am supposed to report to the Alliance office in New Mecca.”  
“Interesting.” He appraised her again. He kept underestimating her, kept lumping her in with the rest of humanity. He reminded himself that she was not an ordinary woman, she was acting purely on instinct, and since she had ‘awoken’ from cryo her instincts had yet to fail her. Riddick asked her meeting her eyes, “You trust this contact?”  
“I don’t know her Riddick, but my instincts tell me I should.” Rehtaeh met his hard look with one of her own. “I saw her once in person, have never met her but every instinct screams that I can trust her. After May and Mac had gone into Cryo, I had a lot of time to myself. I looked into her, and I mean I hacked every possible avenue available public and private. She personally interviewed and selected Doctor May and MacKenzie out of thousands. They were amazing people, I could call them friends. The thing is, I know exactly who set up the hit, I just can’t prove it. Remner wants me back under his thumb. Antonia and Junner were in contact with him, he wants me alive to be one of his pet projects.”  
“Remner is the dick who had his hands on you in the video?” Riddick asked. The doctor was the only one who had ever harmed her in such a way, and he was the only one alive who had any motive to have her taken.  
“Yeah,” Her voice was a choked whisper. She was stretching out her muscles, to keep them from cramping up. It was like she was doing anything and everything to keep from thinking about it too much.   
“Once we get to New Mecca, I am staying with you until Heath arrives,” Riddick told her. His original plan was to ditch as soon as possible, but this situation made that difficult. He saw the argument rising in her immediately. She was overly protective of him and anyone she grew to care about. She would make one hell of a mother someday. “I have already arranged it with Heath. He is working on clearing out any evidence that could convict us from the Merc ship.”   
“I don’t like the thought of you putting yourself in danger for me, Riddick. I can take care of myself.” She glared at him.  
“We both have targets on our backs. As much as splitting up makes sense, we’re a greater threat when together. We can use that to our advantage.” Riddick rebuffed her. “Think of it as a game, just this time we play the same side.”  
That caught her attention, one thing he had learned about her, she loved to play games. Loved to come out the winner, she was a player and a strategist. It was thrilling to her. “You don’t know yet if there are still Mercs on your back. If we can properly report your ‘death’ to the authorities, then you will be free and clear; at least as long as you don’t do anything to get caught again.”  
“I won’t hold my breath. I have my doubts that I will ever be free and clear of the Mercs.” Riddick looked at her and smiled gently. She really was a dreamer. Hopeful for the best outcomes, after the life she had lead she should really know better.   
“So now what? We twiddle our thumbs in the dark waiting for time to pass? Or for Tiller to find out about Remner? Or for a Merc to show up? If you hadn’t noticed Riddick, I am not a very patient woman. I am going to go stir crazy.” Rehtaeh snapped at him she was in a bad mood, and she was looking for a fight. She was always looking for a fight. “And don’t ask me to go into Cryo. I won’t do it.”  
“We spar. If we put this stuff away, there is enough room in here for some light training. You need to blow off some steam. So we spar.” Riddick growled at her. Something dark lit her face, her lips quirked into a queer smile, and her face took on a sly façade, she looked like a Cheshire cat. He looked at her in the athletic gear; her feet bare and he wondered if she had any idea how sexy she looked. Long strands of her moonlit hair had escaped her braid, creating a wild halo around her face. His wild angel needed to exorcise her demons and he was just the devil to help her do it. Sparring with her in that outfit, he could see the endless possibilities. He felt a familiar and yet uncomfortable swell in his pants. Damn.  
It didn’t take them long to pack the gym back up and before long they were ready to spar. Like they had at the compound, they started out with blocks and easy footwork but it quickly escalated. She was hitting him hard and taking hits as though she had been born to do it. Her guard wasn’t dropping near as much as it had before and she was extremely flexible, which made her a fierce opponent. Her broken ribs had really done a number on her. She was quick on her feet and knew how to use her environment to her advantage. Her understanding of various fighting techniques was also apparent since she could throw a variety of stylistic hits and kicks just in order to throw him off of her game. She was landing as many hits as he was. Yet they were both pulling their punches, he could tell, neither of them seemed to want to take it up a notch. They had been sparring for nearly three hours and they were both sweaty and breathing hard. Yet neither one wanted to call it quits.   
He wanted to see what her limit was, how far she would go to win, so he started needling her about her style, her hits.   
“You gonna keep hitting like a girl, Rehtaeh?” He taunted her, trying to draw her out.   
“Last I checked I was female Riddick.” She reminded him, tartly.   
“Yeah, but most women I know hit harder than that. You afraid to break a nail?” She completely ignored that one, her nails were pretty ragged already. He could tell that she was not going to rise to his bait. Unless…  
“Or is it because your brothers used to let you win?” That hit her hard on some emotional level; she screamed a battle cry and launched into an attack. It was as though some barrier broke in her and she intended to end him.   
She was hitting with combo’s, charging left and hitting right, faking him out and throwing an uppercut when he least expected it. Instead of becoming sloppy in her anger, she was recharged, and she was sharp as a tack. It was like she had channeled all of her pain and rage into the fight. It was a tactic that he used all of the time to get out of the tightest predicaments. He had just finished blocking such an attack when she laid him out with a spinning heel kick to the solar plexus. She didn’t stop there. She was on top of him instantly. He just barely stopped the hit by her right and had to shake off a hit from her left. Finally he grabbed both of her wrists and lifted her throwing her over his head like he had Carolyn a few days before. Rehtaeh, however, landed on her feet just as he got to his. She threw a round kick at his kidneys and he caught her foot and twisted, instead of resisting she spun with it, sweeping her other foot out and aiming for his head. Same move she had pulled on Junner.  
He ducked just in time and released her other foot. She landed hard, but still on her feet. He went in for a hit to her solar plexus and as she blocked him he threw in an uppercut, clipping her on the jaw. She flew back with the momentum with it and hit the wall. She was dazed for a moment but when she looked up at him her eyes had gone red. There was no shimmering violet around the silver. Her eyes had become bloodshot and black with silver. She looked demonic. She launched herself at him. There was no control, no grace, no logic or calculation. She had become pure animal, scratching, clawing, hissing animal, a beast. He rushed at her grabbing her wrists, kicking her legs out from under her and pinned her to the floor. Still she raged at him, her fingers had curled into weapons, her body curled up defensively. Her feet dug into his hips as she tried her damnedest to push him off of her.   
“Enough!” he roared at her, it was an order like that from a commanding officer. She went perfectly still. Her feet still pressed against his hips, her fingers were still hooked and ready to hit or scratch. She still held them at the ready, but she had stopped, had immediately responded to his command. Just like she had promised him that she would. Her heart was pounding, her hair was sticking to her sweat soaked skin and her chest was rising and falling in heavy pants. She was completely aroused by their fight. Her eyes were wide in the dim cabin light and he realized her pupils were dilated, a sign of intense emotion. He pulled her feet around him and rocked his hips against her and she gasped in surprise.   
He released her wrists, trailed his hands leisurely up her arms feeling the skin under the pads of his fingers react to his touch. Her breath caught in her throat as he rocked his hips against her again. She bucked against him and he growled in appreciation. Her eyes met his, as awareness hit her, the dark storm purple crashing back into her eyes. Her clawed fingers raked across his chest, lightning arced through the muscles there. He leaned into her and claimed her mouth, battling once again for domination. This time they both reacted, her back arched in response and he reached for her hips. He slid his hand up caressing her body until he found the soft mound of her breast where his thumb brushed against her nipple. He rocked against her again, the friction of the material between them created more heat. She cried out softly. That single soft moan nearly had him hauling her up into the bed in the loft.  
“Kublai Khan to the Double R, please come in; Kublai Khan to the Double R.” There was a beep on the com device. They both looked up at the ships com system. The light was blinking on the console.  
“No,” Rehtaeh growled as she shook her head at him. She wanted something and she was not ready to give up yet. He knew exactly how she felt. He was going to have a case of blue balls once again. This time courtesy of her damned nephew.  
“Kublai Khan to the Double R, come in now damn it. I don’t have all day.” Heath’s voice came over the com unit.   
“Fuck!” She said in disgust as he rose from his position on top of her; his thoughts exactly. One of these times, he was going to take advantage of her desire for him. He was going to fulfill both of their needs.  
“We are not done Rehtaeh.” He looked at her as she rose from the floor. He wanted to see her completely naked. He wanted to tear every shred of clothing off of her body and take her. He wanted to make her his and give her the picture in her book. But he couldn’t give her that, the only thing he could give her were a few moments of pleasure before they parted ways. Riddick shook off his thoughts and turned to the com unit and hit the engage button. “Heath, you just interrupted our combat training, this had better be good.”  
“It must have been a good session; you are both looking pretty beat up. I have good news, bad news and really bad news. The good news is Carolyn is up and about and fit to be tied that you left her behind. The bad news is there is a Merc on your trail. He stole one of the ships from the docking bay. His name is Toombs. One of Chillingsworth’s paid men. He’s a greedy fuck, and according to his file, a cocksure bastard.” Heath growled at them as he sent them files on the Merc. “I am sure you can out maneuver him, get him off your trail. Carolyn says that he is using your Ion trail to track you since Rehtaeh took out all your tracers. He will be headed to New Mecca. Rehtaeh’s tag will lead him in that direction. I am sure he thinks that you are taking her in yourself. Which brings me to the other bad news; the bounty on Rehtaeh’s head has changed to a hit. They want her dead.”  
“What?” Riddick looked at the man. He had not just heard what he thought he did. Rehtaeh spun and grabbed her pad from the table and started opening up portals. When she reached the one she wanted, she opened it up, set it on the table and turned up the volume so that her contact could be heard all across the room. The holographic image of a beautiful redhead shimmered in the air above the pad.  
“Rehtaeh. I have good news and very bad news. It seems that your release was never revoked. You are very much a free woman, with all the rights that I have already explained to you. That being said, the investigation into the Medical Research Division found that the scientist who assaulted you wants you dead. His name is Dr. Charles Remner. We have agents searching for him, but it looks as though he has gone underground. We are doing our best to hack back into the system and remove the hit, but the man has erected a ton of firewalls, encryption codes and virus traps on your hit file. Our IT specialists are working on it, but it is going to take us some time.” The woman was looking at the camera with a fierce look on her face. She was very upset. “We need you to come in and talk to us in person, as soon as the Hunter Gratzner arrives. Be careful, they know that you’re expected to check in here. I will contact you if or when anything changes. Until that time look up file Voodoo X.”  
“That God damned son of a bitch is going to pay for this bullshit. I will blow up that fucker if I have to, but he is going to fucking pay.” He heard Rehtaeh mutter under her breath. At the mention of the Doctor, Rehtaeh’s face had gone cold, and then she started to swear. She was opening portal after portal trying to find the one marked Voodoo X. She was reading through the instructions on the file, her face was becoming more and more feral, a grin spread across her face. “I have immunity, and apparently a weapons vault. The best part, I know exactly where to find the fucker.”  
“So where is he?” Riddick asked her, waiting expectantly.   
“Aguerra Prime. He has a retreat there that he likes to go to. Some resort called Little Versailles.” Rehtaeh looked up at him. How in the world could she possibly know this information? Had the bastard talked to her, confided in her as he touched her? She met his eyes and nodded once at his unspoken question. He growled at that, that man was going to die, if not by Rehtaeh’s hand then, his own. “Apparently my new pad has a fully operational security system for the entire property. It also has a landing pad for a couple of ships and a completely stocked weapons vault. I also have immunity which means if I kill the fucker, I can’t be prosecuted for murder.”  
“Heath, get your ass off that boat and meet us in New Mecca, Rehtaeh will send you the coordinates of her place. Once we are there, we can regroup and come up with a plan. Rehtaeh and I are gonna shake a Merc.” Riddick ordered Heath.  
“One problem there, I am no pilot,” Heath growled back chagrined. Rehtaeh grinned wickedly. She had known that the man would need a pilot. Imam was wrong. She was in no way rash.  
“Carolyn is. She can get you to New Mecca.” Riddick told the other man before disengaging the com unit. He turned to her as she pulled up the coordinates of her estate and put them into the ship's computer system, sending them to Heath. “Immunity? You have immunity?”  
“Yeah, and you can bet your ass I am gonna use it.” Rehtaeh’s eyes gleamed, she was ready to play. “So how do we lose the Merc?”  
“That’s easy.” Her face fell, he couldn’t help but chuckle. She wanted to start playing now and needed a task to keep her occupied. “Heath thinks he’s trying to use our Ion signature to track us. So I say we make a trail using the Ion Drives, to the nearest planet make it look like we went in for landing and then double back without them. We will wait for a day or two and when I am sure we lost him, then we will go full throttle. We could have gotten to New Mecca in two weeks, but with him on our tail, I ain’t gonna risk it. The detour will take at least two days going full out, hiding out another day or two and then backtracking will take three. Looks like we have about three weeks to kill.”  
“I don’t know Riddick if we change direction now it’s gonna look like a diversion. Which is exactly what it is, if he knows anything about you, he is going to be wary. Is there a planet that is close enough that it looks like we were headed in that general direction in the first place?” Rehtaeh started firing questions and making holes in his ‘plan’. Damn, she was good.   
“No, the system we are in right now is uninhabitable according to the charts. Only the Helion System lies before us, we could go to Helion 5, but that is pretty close proximity to our destination.” Riddick looked at her; she was staring at the map of the solar system. “This here is the planet I was considering for our diversion. It is basically just an outpost, fuel up, repair jobs, that type of thing. It would at least have a viable reasoning for making the turn.”  
“He knows our ship was in perfect repair when we left the Kublai Khan, so it would be unreasonable to change direction suddenly without alerting him that we are on to him. Unless, unless-.” She looked at him, her eyes were troubled. She didn’t know much about space travel and he could see it in her hesitation. Yet she was trying her best to come up with a solution to their problem. He had already figured all this out, but it was fun watching her plan a strategy. He liked seeing how her mind worked. So much like him. “Is there anything we can do to make it look like we got into trouble and had to go in for repairs? Is there any way we can blow smoke up his ass and get away clean?”  
“I thought that I would drop some paneling from the backside, make it look like we took some heavy hits. Leave some smoke in the atmosphere and a trail. Turn on the tracers to make a call out to no one in particular and make a sudden turn to the closest habitable planet.” Riddick told her the remainder of his plan, the one that she wouldn’t have been able to come up with only due to her ignorance of space travel. She quirked an eyebrow at him and rolled her eyes as she realized that he was playing with her again, just to see if she could keep pace.   
“I have another problem with your plan. I really don’t like the idea of him getting ahead of us. The last thing we need once we get to New Mecca is an ambush.” She challenged him, her mind was whirling, he could see her thinking putting the puzzle together. Apparently, she wasn’t too keen on having holes in any plan. Damn, she was perfect for him. The two of them together would be unstoppable. He shook the thought away as she continued. “The only thing that we have going for us is the common knowledge that The Hunter Gratzner isn’t scheduled for arrival for another sixteen weeks. If he gets there before us, the cat will be out of the bag.”  
“That’s phase two. We need to finish Phase one first.” Riddick told her with a sly smile. He wanted to prolong their time together on this ship as long as he could, once they reached New Mecca he would be leaving. She was right though, the last thing they needed was Toombs reaching New Mecca before them.   
“Right, so, let’s shake this ass jacket, and while you’re at it, you can teach me how to pilot this beast.” Rehtaeh turned and walked to the co-pilot seat and waited for him to join her. He watched her for a long moment as she started studying the panel. She was very goal oriented. She really seemed to get into whatever task they were doing. He wondered if he could fracture that focus in bed.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25  
Rehtaeh  
They took off some paneling at the rear of the ship, which shared a similar look to the exterior panels. He had her dent and burn them up to the point that it looked like they had run into something. When she was done, they moved it into the airlock and waited until they were close to an asteroid belt. As they passed the space rocks, she hit the button and jettisoned the panel and a bit of stray insulation that she had found in a repair kit in a storage locker. He pulled the ship to a spinning stop and made it look as though they had knocked off course, stopped mid-flight for several hours before changing course. If Toombs was any bit a tracker he would notice the trail, it was clear enough.   
While they made their way to the port, Riddick started teaching her the instrumentation in the ship. They spent hours just going over the different systems and how to work them and what sequences required which protocols. It was the type of thing that was usually learned in a class and in simulation vessels. She learned it all in real time. He wasn’t happy unless she could recite from memory what buttons, switches, and levers had to be triggered for each test or maneuver that he taught her, without looking at the panel. She had to tell him the exact sequence required for start up, hull testing, primary drive testing, and power limit testing and so on. Luckily for her she learned fast, and by the time they reached the port two days later, she had memorized every possible exercise by the book, using the proper names and technical instrument formulas. He still wouldn’t let her touch the actual controls, but at least she understood the mechanics of the ship. Finally, she felt she would be helpful when or if something happened.   
Riddick had to make it look like the ship was limping along which meant he had to stay at the controls and manually stall the ship a few times to make it look like they were in trouble. Rehtaeh called in to port to report their arrival, keeping Riddick’s voice off the airwaves. The last thing they needed was another incident like the Kublai Khan. Once they reached the transfer station, they had to make it look as though they were getting repairs made. They stopped in at a repair shop and bought what they needed to restore the interior paneling. He made arrangements for a team of experts to bolster their weaponry, and repair some of the damage the ship had taken from the Mercs and Cons right before take-off.  
“Get dressed, Rehtaeh, we’re going into town. We need supplies.” Riddick told her as he came back from talking to the ship mechanic.  
“What?” Rehtaeh was fresh from the shower, she had pulled on her underwear and her pajama shirt over top as Riddick came up the stairs. She tried to ignore him as she tried to dry the water out of her hair with her towel.   
“You heard me, get dressed we’re going into town.” He growled at her as he came up into the loft, he leaned against the wall as he watched her rummage through her bag to grab her hair brush. She roughly pulled the brush through the wet snarls in her hair before pulling it back into a thick knot at the nape of her neck.  
“I get why we are fixing the ship, but why should we risk being seen in town? I thought the point was to ditch him, not draw him to us.” She was trying her damnedest to ignore him and his shirtless form. For two days, she had been trying to avoid him and his muscular chest and abs. It was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life.  
“We need supplies, Rehtaeh since you refuse to go into Cryo, we only have enough food to last us another couple of days.” Riddick reminded her as he started to stalk towards her. She had avoided him so perfectly for the past two days and now he was standing between her and the only exit from the loft.  
“I am not comfortable with Cryo Riddick,” Rehtaeh growled as she pulled her jeans on under her pajama shirt.  
“I get it, stop explaining.”He walked towards her slowly, she felt as though the room was growing smaller and smaller.   
“So we stop for food and supplies and advertize that we are here together?” Rehtaeh asked incredulously. She stood and glared at him, she was acting directly hostile on purpose. She wasn’t interest in playing games today and he had that playful smirk on his face that made her stomach tighten. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of staying under the radar?”  
“Toombs is already on our trail. So we set a trap. He wants both of us, why go for one bounty when he can get both.” He told her. She could feel his eyes on her as she sat on the bed and pulled on her socks and boots, lacing them up tight and placing both blades into their scabbards inside. He hadn’t made his move yet. It was like he was waiting for something, but she wondered what. “He’ll follow our trail anywhere we lead. So buy a lot. The bigger the bill, the better, so whatever you buy don’t go cheap.”  
“Yeah, cause I seem like a Scrooge to you?” Rehtaeh glanced up at him from where she sat on the bed. He stepped in between her legs and she had to arch her neck in order to look him in the eyes. She reached out and put her hands on his legs just above his knees. Keeping steady pressure, she pushed her hands up from knee to thigh to hip. She stopped just before she touched his flesh above his waistband.   
“Well other than that fancy lingerie you like, your clothes have all been rather worn out.”He placed his hands over hers and pulled her to her feet, her body pressed tightly against his. Her hands moved to rest lightly on his chest. She felt his fingers on her hips, his thumbs pressing into her hip bones.   
“Well yeah, when I bought them I had just been disowned. I bought them on my own coin, I couldn’t exactly afford much.” Rehtaeh told him, she watched as her fingers brushed up to his collarbone, and the mass of muscle in his shoulders. “Let’s just say my first shopping trip on my own dime was an eye opening experience.”  
“So the dignitary’s daughter got disowned.” Riddick moved his hands under her shirt, finding the soft, vulnerable flesh underneath. Her breath caught in her throat, damn it what was he up to?  
“Yeah, that wasn’t in the files. Father wanted people to think that he was more supportive of my path than he actually was.” He pushed her shirt up slowly, his hands brushing her sides, her ribs. He ran his fingers along the underside of her bra, then traced up the back of the straps to her shoulders. She couldn’t stop the soft moan that passed her lips. She met his eyes and whispered, “What are you up to Riddick?”  
He ignored her question as he pulled her shirt up, stripping it off of her. He tossed it onto the bed and reached up unknotting her hair, pulling it back down to fall around her shoulders. He pulled her head to the left baring her throat to his exploring lips. “What else wasn’t in the files?  
“A lot Riddick, a lot was left out.” He nipped at the chord in her neck and she hummed softly.   
He turned away from her suddenly picking up her shirt and walking swiftly to the steep staircase from the loft. “I think I’ll borrow this. You had better find something to wear if you’re coming with me, cause there is no way in hell you are wearing that in public.”  
“Riddick!” Rehtaeh yelled in frustration at his retreating back. “You’re an ass you know that?”  
“You love my ass.” He called back up to her. She could hear the laughter in his voice.  
“Can’t argue with that logic,” Rehtaeh grumbled under her breath, wondering what the hell she was going to wear. He had taken her only shirt. She didn’t blame him. Antonia and Junner obviously intended to go into cryo for the duration of their trip because there was not a stitch of spare clothing on the ship. She looked at the red dress folded neatly on the floor and decided that it would suffice for a shirt, but she would have to wear a sports bra underneath for modesty. She changed her clothes and looked in the mirror, making adjustments and clasping the collar and cuffs into place. She was wearing jeans so she pulled the tight hem of the dress up to her waist and let it sit in a ruche fashion on her hips. Overall it looked pretty good, it would look better with a silk camisole underneath. Maybe she could find one when they went shopping.   
She twisted her long silver blonde locks into a low nautilus bun at the back of her neck. Her finishing touch was as always her dark sunglasses. She wondered for a moment if they still had the light altering glass that they had used in her time. Transitional lenses would go a long way to helping her out, she wouldn’t have to continually remove and replace her glasses wherever she went. She would look into that once they reached New Mecca.  
She opened her pack, pulled out her purse, wallet and the ID cards that Tiller had left for her, arranging her wallet with everything she might possibly need in town. She took only her business account UD card and left the other two hidden in the secret pocket in her pack, just in case someone snooped while they were gone. Once she figured she had everything she needed, she went down the steep stairs to meet Riddick.   
“You think they’ll be okay while we are gone?” Rehtaeh asked Riddick as she checked on Jack, Suleiman, and Imam deep within their cryo sleep.  
“Yeah, I set up a security detail to watch the ship while we are in town. If you get your ass out of there, I will lock up the main living areas since the repair guys only need access to the Airlock and Engine bays.” Riddick called to her as he impatiently waited by the ramp. “Move it, woman. They’ll be fine.”  
“Whatever you say.” She rolled her eyes as she passed through the airlock and onto the dock floor. He hadn’t even looked at her when she had passed by, he was too busy punching commands into the ship's security system. He was wearing her shirt. The black fabric was stretched to its limit across his muscular shoulders and over his strong arms, the way it was structured was perfect for a man of his physique. It looked sexier than hell on him, and knowing that it was her shirt made it all the more seductive and intimate. Her toes were curling in her boots just looking at him.   
She walked to the main exit of the city port, there was a waiting room, but all the seats were taken by passengers waiting for a luxury liner that was not yet ready to board passengers. She found a small section of wall near the main lobby and leaned her back against the wall, propping one of her feet on the wall behind her waited for him to be finished. Several men turned to leer in her direction and she pointedly ignored them, she also noticed several envious and some snobbish looks from several of the female passengers. She disregarded them as well.   
Instead, she started making a mental list of the things that she needed. Manicure kit, her nails were getting too long and rough, they needed filing and cleaning. She needed some body lotion, sunscreen, and some proper soap. The crap they had in the dispenser on the ship was slowly destroying her skin. It was beginning to feel like sand paper. She needed some deodorant and some better gym equipment. The gear they had on the ship was crap and she really needed a punching bag. She also needed to replace her hand wraps, the last pair had gone into the disposal unit on the Kublai Khan.   
A few of the men were cajoling one of their buddies to approach her and she felt him start to hedge towards her, trying to gain his courage. She remained wary but went back to her list making for their shopping trip. The man was about three feet away when Riddick joined her. He leaned right into her, nuzzling her neck, a jolt of pure awareness curled through her. Her response was immediate, it didn’t seem to matter that they were standing in the lobby of a busy transport terminal. She arched up into his body and wrapped her arms up around his neck intimately. She sighed softly, her voice husky with want, “Damn it, Riddick, we’re in public.”  
“If I had known that you were going to wear that, I would never have let you leave the ship.” He whispered roughly in her ear. His hands pulled her possessively against him, and she was certain she was going to turn into a puddle on the floor. He pulled up just enough to look down at her, goggles meeting glasses as they looked at each other. A wry smirk lifted his lip as he said loud enough for their captive audience, “You ready to go, Sexy?”   
“Hmm. Anytime, anywhere, as long as I’m with you, Babe.” Her voice was playful. She raised her eyebrow silently asking him what the hell he was playing at this time. His brow rose to match hers as he silently indicated that they held the entire lobby population in their thrall. She pulled back and fixed his collar. “Nice shirt.”  
“I thought you might like it.” He returned with a chuckle. She slipped under his arm and walked away towards the main lobby doors, not stopping until she reached the portal. It slid open automatically and she sauntered through. He was right on her heels as she went through the doors.   
There was an open air market not far from the main port, which housed several little shops for tourist, preposterously priced goods for people who were only there for an hour or two. Rehtaeh ignored these, not one of them had anything she either needed or liked. Instead, she led the way deeper into the community and headed into the town shops where the locals looked at them with a grain of surprise. Riddick stayed by her side and looked around warily while trying to blend in. She smiled at the locals and got directions to their largest Department Store, where she would most likely be able to get all the items on her list in a single stop. She was looking for one that had the best quality for the best price.  
An older gentleman escorted her to the doors of a massive store that housed everything from foodstuffs to ship supplies, clothes and everything in between. She flirted with the old man as Riddick glowered at him as he walked behind. When they reached the door, she allowed the gentleman to kiss her hand as he bid her goodbye. Then the old coot turned to Riddick and told him, “You treat this one right and she’ll look after you right till the end. She reminds me of my dear Marta. Which reminds me, I have to pick up some flowers, Marta loves red roses.”  
They both turned to watch the man walk back the way they came. She wanted to look up at Riddick, but she knew if she did, she would start to cry. Shaking off the feeling of foreboding Rehtaeh turned briskly into the entrance of the Foreign Market. She went directly to the customer service counter and requested to speak to a manager. It had taken only minutes before an older woman greeted them, giving her an odd look at the clothing she was wearing. She smiled up at Riddick and he smirked at her.   
He gave the woman a bullshit story about being on route to their honeymoon destination when they hit an asteroid belt. He told her there was a fire in the ship, which totaled all of their supplies. Thankfully it was Riddick telling the lie since she was getting antsy just listening to the story. In the end, the woman just thought that Rehtaeh was flustered by their string of bad luck.   
“So how can I be of help to the pair of you?” She asked with a note of concern.  
“My wife is allergic to cryo meds, so we need to have enough supply to get us to Aguerra Prime. I have made a list of the supplies we need to get us there. Unfortunately, our reservations at the resort are fixed. We need to be back on route within the next three hours if we are going to make it in time.” Riddick told her smoothly. His list included an assortment of foods, cleansers, sundries as well as a variety of gear and equipment. “If there is any way we can get this list filled while we buy clothes and personal supplies, it would help us make our deadline.”  
Looking at the list, the manager assured him that the items could be gathered and sent directly. Rehtaeh held her breath hoping there was some way the woman could help them out. Little did Rehtaeh know that the look on her face was one of hopelessness and sorrow. The woman took her hands in her own and smiled down at Rehtaeh. She tried her damnedest not to flinch away from the cold contact. “It is going to be just fine, sweetheart. We will get you all setup and back on the road before your deadline. I can have our personal shoppers take care of your list while you two take care of your own requirements.”  
Riddick moved off to find suitable clothing for himself, Imam, and Suleiman. She was shopping for herself and Jack. Other than Rehtaeh, not one of them had any clean clothing to their names. Even then, her clothes were in such a state of disrepair that they were becoming unusable. She remembered the list she made while waiting for Riddick and went in search of those items first. Piling what she found into a cart for the personal shopper who was following her around. When her cart was full and she was ready to look for clothes, the attendant took the cart and let her head to the clothing department alone.   
Buying for Jack was relatively easy; she was about the same height as Rehtaeh herself was, so she figured that if it fit her it would fit the girl. Jack seemed to be a cargos and t-shirt kind of girl, and she seemed to prefer the clothes a bit baggy, so that was what she got for her. She also got the girl a couple tanks and shorts as well as undergarments and socks.   
Then Rehtaeh looked for things for herself. She found a pair of black leggings that fit nice as well as a couple new pairs of jeans. She replaced her T-shirts as well as her black and red tank tops and found a long sleeved black shirt that hugged her curves beautifully. At first she didn’t bother looking for underwear for herself. She had plenty and had been washing it by hand; besides she was picky when it came to her underwear, and this stuff was not going to cut it. Until her eye fell on one singular set of high-end lingerie, it was made of the softest black satin, with red lace trim. It was a multi-piece trousseau. It consisted of a teddy, a corset, a baby-doll, bra, thong, boy-cut shorts, and bikini cut panties, along with garters and stockings. The final piece was a long red negligee with black lace and trim. She tried her damnedest to talk herself out of even trying it on for proper fit when she caught Riddick staring at her from the men’s department.   
His face was a hard mask, there was no way for her to know at this distance what he was feeling or thinking. She looked away with a blush. She was standing in the middle of the lingerie department with the object of her lust staring at her. What came over her she had no idea, but she gave the assistant her sizing and had the whole set taken to the change room to try on. It fit like a glove like it had been custom made for her. The lady that ran the department was adamant that she buy it, for her honeymoon. ‘Damn Riddick for telling them that,’ she thought and her rubber arm was twisted.  
That was also the moment when the other ladies in the women’s section were pulled into help. They all heard that she was looking for a new wardrobe, and suddenly she was being ordered to try on dresses in every shape and style. Hoping to break their spirits and slow them down she flat out refused anything that was not red, black or gray. It didn’t work, they all saw this as a challenge and there was suddenly a competition to find THE dress. There were dresses abounding in the ladies section, Rehtaeh groaned in distress, hating the attention and the coldness that went with it. She tried on dress after dress, hating every single one of them. Too frilly, too lacy, too masculine, too boxy, too frumpy, even the ladies didn’t like anything that she was trying on. She had gone through every dress in the entire store, or so they had promised her when one more was thrown over the door.  
She groaned inwardly and sighed as she pulled it on and tied the back of the dress tight. As she stepped out of the change room in the corseted strapless number, all of the ladies stopped and stared. She turned to the mirror to see what the fuss was about. The top portion of the dress was a dark steel gray silk overbust corset with silver lace overlay, cut in a mild sweetheart top. The front of the corset was longer in the front than it was in the back allowing for greater comfort and more considerable exaggeration of curves. The bottom of the dress was layered sheer black silk, under a steel-gray lace overlay with silver accents that fell gracefully to the knee. One of the women came back with a pair of bright red satin stiletto heels, long red lace gloves and a black ribbon choker with a blood red jewel that hung just inside the hollow of her throat.  
“There is only one thing wrong with that dress.” A low silky voice said from a seat just outside her fitting room. Her heart stopped and she looked up at Riddick. He stood and stalked toward her. She felt like a small rabbit cornered by the wolf. She could only stare at him, standing over her in her black pinstriped shirt, with the top two buttons undone looking sexy as hell. He didn’t touch her. He just reached behind her and pulled the knot out of her hair causing the moonlit waves to cascade down her back. He threaded his fingers into the spun silver blonde of her hair and pulled her head back, lifting her face to his. He kissed her roughly, nipping at her bottom lip. “Leave your hair down, Rehtaeh.”  
The women around them sighed in happiness and Rehtaeh blushed maddeningly. She stepped away from Riddick, her heart pounding. One look at him and she knew that he had been the one to pick the dress for her. It was equally his taste as well as her own. There was a thick ominous edge to his voice as Riddick turned away and looked at the store manager who had reappeared when he had. “Wrap it up and include it in the order. I will be waiting for you outside Rehtaeh.”  
She changed as quickly as she could and handed the dress and the accessories to the store manager. The woman led her through the store to the cashier desk to pay for their purchases when a long black wool jacket with red lace accents caught her eye. She tried it on looked in the mirror and instantly fell in love. Finally, Rehtaeh met the manager back at the counter and used her business UD card for the payment and returned to the ship.  
The total cost of the items made an immense impression on the manager and staff, and the locals would talk about it for several days. This was exactly what Riddick wanted. He wanted Toombs to know exactly who had been here and when. She joined him outside after the manager assured her that all of their purchases would be delivered to their ship within the hour. He looked at her in her jeans and the revealing red dress and grabbed her hand pulling her through the village back to their ship, not saying a word. He just pulled her along quickly until they were back at the safety of their spacecraft.  
The moments she stepped into the airlock she was spun and crushed up against the newly repaired wall. He unclasped the collar and the cuffs and dropped them carelessly on the floor of the airlock. Pushing against him, she tried to slow him down but it was to no end. He stopped her with an earth shattering kiss that she felt from the roots of her hair down to the curl of her toes. He brushed away her hands and unceremoniously tugged and pulled the red dress up over her head. He dropped it on the floor with the collar and cuffs. Wearing only her sports bra and her jeans and boots, she suddenly felt terribly naked and self-conscious. His hands were working the button and fly of her jeans when she put her hands over his in an attempt to stop him. She glared defiantly up at him as he stood there staring down at her he took in her half naked body.   
A snarl on his lips, a feral growl in his throat, he snapped, “You flaunt yourself at me with those shorts and gym top. Then avoid me for days on end. The most expensive item you buy in town is a set of fancy underwear. I can barely control myself around you as it is. I want to be inside of you, I want to make you mine.”  
“Riddick, I-,” She started to tell him that she wasn’t avoiding him but stopped the lie. She had been desperately trying to avoid him. She kept wavering between allowing a relationship involving him, fulfilling her darkest desires, or walking away and keeping her emotional sanity intact when he left them in New Mecca. It was time she made up her mind, the only problem, they had company and she was half naked. “I want you too, but-.”  
He captured her mouth in a kiss cutting off her protest and when she tried to break away, he angled in for a deeper kiss. Her heart was racing, her need for him trumped everything else as she opened up and tangled her tongue with his. Her hands found their way back up to his shoulders and neck holding him to her. He hummed in appreciation, his talented fingers opened the button and fly of her jeans, one hand pushed down seeking her heated center. She yelped in surprise and sudden burning need. He was going to make her lose her mind. There was a knock and a throat cleared and Riddick growled in frustration. He raised his head and looked over his shoulder at intruder standing on the ramp.  
“Sorry sir, the Security Forces Mechanic is here to inspect the work done on the weapons systems. He needs access to the bridge, to run the tests.” The person was thankfully hidden from view, by Riddick’s broad shoulders. She leaned her forehead against his chest and bit back a moan as his deft fingers cupped her intimately. He removed his hand, tilted her face back up to his and kissed her hard.   
“We are not done, Rehtaeh, as soon as we finish our business with Toombs, I am taking what I want,” Riddick growled at her. He unbuttoned his shirt, shrugged it off and handed it to her. She pulled it around her quickly, covering her body, the familiar fabric of her nightshirt enveloped her with his scent.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26  
Riddick  
It seemed like an eternity passed as he waited for her on the sidewalk. What the hell was taking so long? All she had to do was change and pay for their supply order. When she finally stepped out of the store, he grabbed her hand and hauled her after him. He was done waiting. He had promised himself that they would take care of Toombs first, then he would take his time with her. Damn it she was just too much of a temptation to be around. When he wasn’t actively teaching her about the ship, she was off doing things to avoid him. Whether it was working out or drawing, making meals or cleaning up the ship. Her presence around him was as seductive as her absence from him. He wanted her. Plain and simple, he wanted her.   
He disengaged the security on the ship and pulled her up the ramp into the air lock. He had planned to take her to the loft, but his need proved greater than his logic. As soon as they were inside he pushed her against the wall and started to undress her. The collar and the cuffs fell away as he undid them. She struggled against him for a moment until he kissed her. Her arousal was instantaneous and she stopped her attempts to stall him. He pushed her hands away gently and reached for her dress, pulling it up from her waist, over her shoulders and arms until it joined the other things on the floor. The sight of her in her sports bra and skin tight jeans revved his need for her ever higher. He was working on the button and fly of her jeans when she tried once again to stop him. He couldn’t see her eyes as she glared up at him, but her face and body told him she was trying to defy him again.   
He couldn’t help the snarl or the growl that came from his throat as he told her, “You flaunt yourself at me with those shorts and gym top. Then avoid me for days on end. The most expensive item you buy in town is a set of fancy underwear. I can barely control myself around you as it is. I want to be inside of you, I want to make you mine.”  
“Riddick, I-,” She stopped for a heartbeat before she continued, “I want you too, but-.”  
But nothing, she wanted him and that was all there was to it. He kissed her hard cutting off her excuse, refusing to let her protest. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. He could hear her heart racing in her chest, so he pressed for more and she opened for him joining her tongue with his. He hummed in appreciation as her hands pulled him down for more. Finally, they were on the same page; he opened the button and lowered the zipper on her jeans. His left hand moved to explore her core, he wanted to make her ready for him, for what he intended to happen. Her arousal spiked and he caught her tiny cry in his mouth as he touched her center.   
The sudden knock and one of the guards cleared his throat made Riddick growl in frustration. ‘When the fuck am I going to fulfill this promise if I keep getting interrupted?’ He thought in anger. How the hell had she driven him to such distraction that he let someone come up behind him like that? This lust was going to get him killed. He pulled away and looked over his shoulder at the guard standing on the ramp. He tried to angle his body to protect Rehtaeh from the other man’s view.   
“Sorry sir, the Security Forces Mechanic is here to inspect the work done on the weapons systems. He needs access to the bridge, to run the tests.” The man had the decency to turn away when he realized what he had just interrupted and Riddick turned back to the girl he had pinned to the wall.   
Her forehead leaned against his chest and he heard a choked moan as he cupped her intimately in a silent promise. He pulled his hand out of her jeans and placed his finger under her chin tilting her face toward his and kissed her hard. “We are not done, Rehtaeh, as soon as we finish our business with Toombs, I am taking what I want.”  
He unbuttoned her shirt, shrugged it off and handed it to her. She slipped her arms into it and pulled it around her. He heard the soft moan leave her lips as she took in his scent from the fabric. He watched her pick up her things from the floor and walk into the main cabin and directly to the loft stairs.  
He glared at the mechanic as he stepped down the ramp. These people had the worst possible timing. “You can access the bridge now, everything is unlocked. Make it quick, we wanna get back on course as quickly as possible.”  
One of the guards seemed to understand the meaning of what Riddick actually meant because he looked at his partner and reminded him that Riddick was on his ‘honeymoon’. The mechanic looked at him with open curiosity, then in peaked interest as Rehtaeh came out of the ship with her UD card to pay the guards. “Man, if that were my wife, I’d be in a hurry too. I won’t be long.”   
The mechanic walked quickly up the ramp to the main console and got started on his equipment checks and tests. Riddick followed him to keep an eye on the man as he ran tests on the computer hook-ups, as well as the actual installs. Since their arrival, Riddick was struck by how easy things went, everyone here had been perfectly polite to him, and not one seemed to be tipped off about the bounty on his head. He wanted it kept that way and he was wary that the mechanic might add a tracking bug to the systems.   
He was going over the operating instructions with the Security Mechanic when the order of supplies arrived. Rehtaeh tried to hide the fact that she was staring at him, he could see her from the corner of his eye. Twice he turned to catch her gaze and both times she looked away as though she was not staring. The third time it happened he caught her outright, and she blushed heavily and turned away flustered. When the delivery men finally arrived with their supplies, she nearly pounced on them, as she tried to ignore him. She turned her focus to directing the delivery men as to where she wanted everything placed and used her UD card to pay for delivery and give them a big tip. Then she started opening packages and putting stuff away. She was very efficient in everything she did, completely focused on the task until it was complete. She handed him his bag of clothes in case he needed to change, but he tossed it up into the loft. He would change just before takeoff until then he was going to enjoy the feel of her eyes on him as he moved around the ship.   
The mechanic headed outside to check some data lines that were not connecting to the console, Riddick followed and was half way down the ramp when he turned back to look at Rehtaeh. She was standing a dark recess near the galley. The shadow seemed to caress her skin, hugging to her curves as she blended into the darkness. Her purple irises looked electric beside the silver depths of her pupils. She was watching him and had taken off her sunglasses and was biting the tip of the arm. A small slow grin crept across her face, growing more and more feral and wild, as she looked at him. Up and down, and back up, the lust he saw in her eyes was raw. She blushed prettily when she realized that he had caught her red handed, she put her hand over her face for a moment before she shook her head and went back to work. He grinned at her failed attempt to not get caught then he followed the mechanic out to the gun receptacles.   
The mechanic was cursing heavily when he arrived, whole adaptation was installed incorrectly, the man would have to take apart and redo the work that had been done earlier in the day. Riddick offered his help; he wanted to get out of this port and quick. He had a bad feeling about spending too long in a place like this. He and the mechanic had just finished rewiring the laser guns to the console when one of the guards came back into the ship at a run, “The Betenari Boys killed Ray! They are on their way. They wanna piece of your cash!”   
Riddick rounded the ship at a run just in time to see a man enter the ship. There was a battle cry and the man flew back out and landed in a heap at the feet of one of his comrades. Rehtaeh stood at the top of the ramp winding her hair into a bun at the back of her head, an angry snarl on her lips. “Back off freak show, I am lethal. I will cut you up if you try that shit again.”  
“Yeah, whatever bitch, we’re gonna take that hit on you and when we’re done we gonna take anything and everything we want. Including your ship.” One of the larger men said, he was feeling pretty tough standing amid the group of sixteen men and women that moved to surround the ship.  
“You should listen to the lady. She’s a devil with a pair of knives.” Riddick warned threateningly as he moved to stand beside the ramp. The guard was beside him gun drawn and ready to fight, the mechanic stood just behind the guard holding a flat-ended screwdriver in his hand.   
“Like you are chump change, Richard?” Rehtaeh drawled from her spot on the ramp, she slowly pulled her sleep shirt over her head. She let it fall to the ground revealing her tight muscular body. Within moments, she had prepared for battle. Her hair was pulled away from her face, her loose clothing removed. He admired her form as she warily lowered to a lunge and pulled both of her knives out of her boots. She was one hot sexy, lethal woman. “Or should I start calling you Riddick again babe? Riddick here is a master with a blade.”  
There was a murmur from the group, but the leader apparently didn’t care that his group was starting to back away. He took a step toward Rehtaeh, his stance threatening. The guard moved to stop him, dropping to his knee to take aim with his blaster. The leader still figured he had the upper hand, even though, some of his crew had taken off and taunted them, “Right. You willing to put your money where your mouth is?”   
He took one shot at one of the remaining ten gang members and chaos ensued. The leader rushed the guard who hunched his back and shuffled backward towards the ship, closer to Rehtaeh. Seeing a perfect opportunity Riddick rushed in and plunged his shiv into the sweet spot of the first man before spinning away and slicing the throat of the next man. The guard was on his knees in front of the ramp trying to protect the ship and the woman on the ramp. Rehtaeh had other plans she used that moment to run down the ramp, planting her foot on the guards shoulder and launched herself at the leader, screaming her battle cry once again. Her feet connected with his shoulders and he fell backward under her momentum.   
The guard had taken out two with his blaster, but with Riddick and Rehtaeh in the way he was having a hard time finding a target. There were seven men standing between him and Rehtaeh. A woman ran at Riddick hoping to use her agility against him, but she was telegraphing every move and when her knife came at him he was easily able to grab her hand and knock the blade away. He slammed his elbow into her face knocking her unconscious. A head rolled past his boot and he looked up to see Rehtaeh on top of a headless corpse holding off another attacker with her blades. Riddick growled, the man was easily twice her size. The Mechanic was in a slugfest with a man about his size, the other man had the upper hand.   
Two men came after him having decided that attacking in higher numbers would give them better odds. They both had long blades and they came at him in unison going for his arms. He spun to the left at the last possible moment slicing the man across the shoulder, as he took a hit and was cut on the ribs. He reacted quickly spinning again behind the man before he had any time to react. Riddick reached out took his head in his hands and twisted hard. There was a slick snap and the man dropped to the ground as the other man jumped on him from behind. Riddick hunched forward pulling the man off the ground grabbed his clothes and pulled him forward over his shoulder. The man fell hard on his back the breath knocked out of him.   
He was about to gut him when Rehtaeh’s bloodied form landed face down on top the man. Her hair had come loose, and there was red gore painted in the long silver blonde tresses. She rose, a scream in her throat, knives in her hands she slammed both blades into the man underneath her in a fit of anger and frustration. The man screamed in agony and she pulled her knives back out and they plummeted again this time both of them slamming into the man’s ribcage and into his heart. She rose to her feet, met his eye for half a second before looking behind him. She growled angrily and went after someone behind Riddick. The woman must have woken back up. There was the burst of gunfire as the guard shot another man that went after the mechanic who had just killed the man he had been fighting by embedding his screwdriver into his temple.   
Riddick looked up in time to see the massive beefy man that he had last seen Rehtaeh fighting come after her. Riddick stood up and faced off with the man. The massive meathead threw a huge right hook trying to take off Riddick’s head, but he was able to arch back and under the hit. He countered the hit with an uppercut that hit the man in the bottom of the chin. He threw a left hook to follow up and the man staggered but didn’t fall if anything the hit only seemed to egg him on. The man seemed to become more energized and he hit Riddick three more times. Riddick staggered back towards the ship the man following him. He mentally shrugged off the hits and lunged at the bigger man swiping twice with his blade, he struck both times, leaving massive red slashed in the man’s shirt. Still the man kept coming, he was weaker and stumbling, but he was still trying to attack. Riddick slashed again, and punched the man twice in the temple before he was able to embed his shiv into the back of the man’s neck, severing his spine.   
He looked around, the mechanic had survived, but barely, he had several deep lacerations in his shoulders and back. The guard looked like he had gotten into a hand to hand tussle as well he had a large bloody gash over his eyebrow and his nose was bleeding heavily. Rehtaeh was finishing off the woman, her silver hair swirled around her like a cloak of silver and red. The woman was stumbling towards her with her hands clenched, they had both lost their knives somewhere in their scuffle. Rehtaeh went after the woman with her feet, spinning into a massive butterfly kick, hitting the woman in the head not once but twice. The woman’s nose was bleeding everywhere, and she was staggering slowly. She found one of Rehtaeh’s knives on the ground and moved to pick it up, just as Rehtaeh rounded on her with a massive drop kick to the back of her head. Riddick heard the crack as the woman’s head slammed forward and her neck snapped. The woman’s body hung leaning over for a long second before it toppled over lifeless.   
“No one uses my knives unless I say so,” Rehtaeh growled as she picked up her blades, she wiped them both on her jeans and put them back in their scabbards in their boots.  
“That was too close.” The guard said as he looked around at the dead bodies littering the ground. “You two better get out of here before the police show up. We can figure out a story.”  
“No,” Riddick growled looking steadily at the guard. “You tell them that Rehtaeh Furya was here for the day, these gang bangers showed up to try to take a hit out on her. You tell them that she and her bodyguard acted in self-defense, you helped. If they have a problem with that you tell them to contact General Farah Tiller in New Mecca. You got all that?”  
“Yeah.” The guard looked at her for a long moment before going to help the mechanic to his feet.  
“Good.” Riddick turned toward Rehtaeh looked her up and down, she was banged up and a bit bruised, but she had no significant injuries. “Let’s go, we got places to be.”   
“I still gotta run that final check for you.” The mechanic said from where he was sitting on the ground. He slowly got to his feet and headed for the ramp.  
“I can do it,” Riddick told him with a growl, but the man continued on determined to finish the job. Rehtaeh double timed it to finish her job putting everything away. She was done before the mechanic finished his checks, and finally the man was paid and they were ready to make tracks. She pulled her bloodied hair back into a thick knot at the back of her neck and joined him at the console. Again her eyes swept over his chest and abs and he caught her looking, and watched as her flush deepened. Her eyes stopped on the cuts that he had gotten during the melee and a crease marred her brow. That was his cue, game time was over for now, they both needed to be on high alert. There was no more time for distractions. He went up to the loft and found his clothes tucked neatly into a drawer in the little cabin. He grabbed a tank and pulled it over his head, enjoying the feel of the clean fabric against his skin and went down to prepare for takeoff.  
Rehtaeh called for a departure request and they were immediately given the go ahead. He quirked a brow at her and she grinned at him, heat spread through his chest as her smile warmed him from the inside. If she ever figured out what that smile did to him, he would be in trouble. Seated beside him as he prepared the ship for takeoff, she gripped the arms of the chair and took several deep breaths and he hadn’t even left the ground yet. It was then that he realized that her motion sickness triggered a fear response in her. As much as he usually enjoyed the scent of a person’s fear, the peppery smell did not suit Rehtaeh and he didn’t want her to fear something that he actually enjoyed doing.  
“Switch spots Rehtaeh, you’re gonna take us out of here. Show me what you’ve learned.” He powered down the ship and stood up, waiting for her to trade him seats.   
“You’re serious?” she asked her eyebrows shot up above her glasses in surprise and he almost laughed at her.   
“Yes, you’ve done all the book stuff already, time for hands-on training. Let’s go.”He growled at her as she stalled for a moment more before jumping into the captain’s seat. She made sure that all hull doors were sealed and the ship was space ready before starting the main drives. Then she deftly went through the start up sequence, not missing a beat. It was as though she had been flying for years as she called into the tower for a flight lane and prepped for exit from the main dock. She pulled the throttle gently like he had taught her and the ship lifted slowly off the ground and hovered for a moment before she hit the thrusters and they took off through the atmosphere. Her adrenaline spiked as she maneuvered the ship out of the atmosphere and into space. That was a scent he much preferred on her.   
She made her way to the main shipping lanes following his instructions to a tee. Then she engaged the Ion drives, luring Toombs along the trail for nearly a day before she dropped off speed and turned off the drives. Pulling off the main road, she banked the ship silently into the middle of nowhere, then doubled back to the service station and hid behind a nearby moon to watch for the Merc. He knew she hated waiting for the man, but at least if she knew she could run the ship she would be able to kill some time doing maneuvers and practicing protocols. Which might help her overcome her motion sickness and the fear that went with it. He wondered for a moment when he had stopped enjoying the scent of her fear, and when it had been replaced by this need to protect her.  
They took turns on watch as they waited for Toombs to arrive. He could feel the ship moving as he slept in the bed in the loft. Sure enough, she preferred spending her shift putting the ship through different drills until she was comfortable with the controls and the touchiness of the ship. Strangely enough, he trusted her and her abilities, not once did he feel the need to make her stop.  
She was up in the loft sleeping when the Merc finally showed up at the station. One of the alarms started beeping loudly and a screen popped up showing him exactly where Toombs ship was landing. He wondered for just a moment when she had time to create the alarm and how the ship knew that it was the right ship. His second thought was that she had made a tracker for Toombs ship and yet she had spent the last day and a half avoiding him. Again! “Rehtaeh, he’s here! Get your ass down here!”   
She was down minutes later, wearing one of her new t-shirts and a pair of skin tight cloth pants that showed off her beautiful legs. He had to tear his eyes away from her as he watched and waited for the Merc to pick up their trail. Riddick waited him out as the Merc searched for information on his quarry. She sat in the co-pilot seat and buckled in, waiting for his commands.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lemons in chapter 27. They will be scattered throughout the rest of the story. Enjoy.

Chapter 27  
Rehtaeh  
They took turns on watch, she spent most of hers practicing and since she was more confident in her knowledge of the ship she used the computers tracking system to set an alarm for when Toombs arrived. She used their ships signature data to configure the trap, knowing that the ship that Toombs was in was nearly identical in every way. Then she added the alarm just in case either one of them was taking a bathroom break or eating. It allowed her to concentrate on refining her skills while still being able to keep tabs on the Merc.   
She was sleeping up in the loft when Toombs finally made his appearance. She heard Riddick’s order in her sleep and she jumped out of bed and scrambled to get dressed. She hauled on her leggings and a t-shirt, she didn’t bother with her boots in an effort to get to the bridge, “Rehtaeh, he’s here! Get your ass down here!”   
She was down minutes later, buckled into the co-pilot seat and waiting for his commands. She saw that her alarm had worked perfectly he was still trying to silence it as she joined him. Pushing his hands out of the way she typed in a couple of commands and turned off the alarm, but kept the screen up so they could track him at a distance. Her reasoning was that they would be able to keep him on their screen, but be far enough away to be invisible. She was able to pick out the Mercs ship quickly since it was a near identical craft as to the one they were in. It was hard to miss the Merc as he pulled out of port. Within the hour of his arrival, he was headed back out to the shipping lanes. They hung back for a long while making sure that the Merc didn’t catch on and then followed.  
“How did you do it?” Riddick asked her quietly. He didn’t look at her since he was using the manual drive to follow the Merc. “You have all of these skills that are not part of your training, so how do you do it?”  
“I used our ships parameters to make a search database and widened the scope just enough to capture the variables between the two ships. It’s a trick I picked up from my brother Juno. He was an engineering major and dabbled in hacking.” She told him as she followed the Merc on the screen. Riddick looked at her with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t have to ask the question twice, she knew he wanted a better explanation. “I studied with my brothers. I got bored easily and was usually done my studies before them so I would help them study for their tests. I picked up a lot of useful information and skills. Part of the whole super soldier genetics thing I guess.”  
They followed Toombs as he followed the trail Rehtaeh had made. When the Merc lost it he started sweeping the shipping route to catch a trail and as he made a long dash into deep space they tailed him silently. Riddick waited until there was not a single other ship in the sector before they attacked. Rehtaeh was on the guns. Riddick had given her a lesson in their application while they were waiting the Merc out. She waited until they were in range and aimed directly at the outer edge of the motor bay in the left wing. She wasn’t interested in murdering the man; they just wanted him off their asses for a few weeks. Double checking her aim and making corrections for the other ships movement she took the shot.  
The tip of the left wing exploded in a supreme light show. Toombs’ ship spun wildly out of control for several minutes before he finally got it back in hand. She used the ships Camera feature to zoom in on the other ship so she could assess the extent of the damage. They would need to take another shot if there were any way that the Merc could follow them. The damage was spectacular, the entire left motor was destroyed, but the hull remained intact. Toombs would live, but he would need a tow back to a transport station to get the ship fixed. In reality, he would probably need a whole new ship. I would take weeks if not months to repair the damage to his ship.  
“Nice shot,” Riddick said as he pulled back and they hauled ass out of the area. “A little anticlimactic, but very well done.”  
“Would you have preferred if I had missed a few times? Given him time to turn on us and get a few shots in? I thought stealth was the key to this, not some Mortal Kombat playbook on making battles interesting with blood and gore.” She said as they bolted, creating a new flight path to New Mecca.   
“Mortal Kombat? What the hell is that?” Riddick growled as he looked at her, completely missing the reference. Man, she was old.  
“Never mind just a gamers reference from back in my youth. You wouldn’t get it.” She sighed and shook her head. They decided on a circuitous route that weaved them in and out of the two systems that separated them from their destination. The whole set up had taken five days. They kept the Ion Drive disengaged so that they would not be tracked, with the plan of re-engaging once the week was up. Once they were set on their new course, Rehtaeh got up and made them some food since both of them were starving.   
It was a simple meal, brown rice, meatballs and gravy, and piles of mixed veggies. She plated the food, put away the leftovers and took the plates out to the little table that was just outside the galley kitchen. She didn’t call Riddick, she didn’t have to, he was already there taking a chair and a plate. They ate in relative silence, as they enjoyed the meal that she had prepped. After their meal, she cleaned up their plates and Riddick grabbed her pad computer and started reading through more of her history, searching for any video, notation or mention of Remner. Rehtaeh wanted nothing to do with it so she went up into the loft and had a shower; she changed into her pajamas and went to bed.  
Her dreams started with her and Riddick sparring together as they had been a few days before, and mirroring reality their sparring turned into something more. Something warm, and erotic, they were sharing their gasping breaths between kisses and hands were exploring flesh. Her fingers were exploring his chest shoulders and arms. She touched every part of him that he would allow. He ran his calloused hands up the back of her thighs, to her ass, spreading and kneading the flesh there, then he pulled her against him and she cried out in joy. Her flesh was on fire, with every searing touch, every hot deep kiss she craved him more and more. She screamed in pain as the man in black with the horrible crown caught her, and pulled her frozen body against his. The dream had changed so quickly, she was crying, screaming for Riddick, but he was busy fighting against horrible monsters. Too many to count, one man against an army.   
‘Who are you?’ The horrible crowned man asked her again.   
She answered as she always did, ‘I am the sister time forgot, the heart of seven. I am red on black.’   
He stabbed her in the heart and she heard Riddick scream in rage as she fell away. Then she was in the black casket, with the glass top. She could see Riddick and the crowned man standing over her, they were fighting each other. She was pounding on the glass, the casket started moving down, the ground rising above her. Riddick was moving farther and farther away. She screamed for him, trying to get his attention, still he couldn’t see her pounding on the glass of the coffin. Then someone started adding the dirt, she screamed and screamed as the coffin got darker and darker until she was alone in the dark. She railed and cried in her coffin, scratching at the glass, trying desperately to break free. Then the dream started again from the beginning.   
Twice more the dream looped. Starting over from the very beginning, until finally the glass cracked and she began digging through the glass and the dirt, and the layers of soil, slowly climbing and digging her way out. When she reached the top she pulled herself up and out of the hole and looked around, she was surrounded by thousands of graves. All of them had her name, again and again and again. She looked into the distance and saw a man holding a flag. A black flag with a blood red rose, her flag. She walked towards him, but she never got any closer, she was always too far away. Then she heard something behind her, a deep low growl, she turned back to see a massive monster. It was tall, massive, with bloody teeth and massive horns. It took one look at her and growled. “You are the Source. You are the source of life and you must die. You will die!”  
Her blood ran cold, her skin prickled with it. She ran, as fast as her feet could carry her. Weaving through the graves, trying to get to the man with the flag, but it was impossible. She turned and saw a city with buildings and fire escapes she ran there, her feet felt like they were still embedded in the soil from her grave. It was so hard to run. Finally, she made it to a fire escape and she started to climb. The monster was hot on her heals. She opened the door at the top and stumbled through and began to fall, she saw the beast peer in through the door, watching her fall and he started to laugh. The ground was coming at her faster, and faster and faster. A hole opened up below her. It was massive and black. It was a void of nothingness, and she heard a dark, eerie voice calling to her, “Come into the darkness, Shadow Mage.”   
She woke with a scream and was pinned to the bed, by someone torturously warm. She struggled against the weight, trying to get away, terrified the dream was starting again, but she was held fast. “Rehtaeh, it was a dream.”   
She stopped and looked up. Riddick was the one pinning her down. She gasped, trying to breath, trying not to cry. Her hands were pinned beside her head and he was straddling her hips. He wore a towel, and there were droplets of water on his chest and arms. He must have been in the shower. He looked down at her with a hard look on his face. “You have been screaming for the last ten minutes, you called for me, and I couldn’t wake you.”  
She looked away from him, the tears coming unwanted, unbidden down her face. “Let me up.”  
“Are you going to tell me-,” Riddick started. She pushed against him focusing all of her attention on getting out from under him. It was no use, she was strong, but he was stronger.   
“No! Why should I have to try to explain the irrational things that my fucked up brain creates when I sleep?” She growled, horrified at the thought. Her stomach was flipped, her heart was still pounding, the irrational fear from her dream still held her fast. The last thing she wanted to do was relive it again.  
“Why were you afraid of me, you screamed my name in terror, do I scare you?” He still hadn’t released her; she raised her legs and hooked them on his shoulders, trying to haul him off of her that way. This tactic surprised him for just a moment before he pulled free and pinned her legs down with his own. He growled at her. “Answer the fucking question.”  
“I was being buried alive, and I was trying to get your attention, not that you could see or hear me.” She spat at him, she was getting angry. Why wouldn’t he let her up? She glared at his chest, still not looking at him. “Hell you go from practically ravishing me one minute and completely shut me out the next when we’re awake, so why should it be any different in my nightmares?”  
He moved her hands together above her head and pinned them with one hand so he could force her to look at him. The heat of his hand on her face and chin shocked her and she gasped. She snapped open her eyes in surprise, his face was millimeters away from her own. “Was I ravishing you, in your dream?”  
“Before everything went to hell?” she looked into his eyes, and her breath caught. It was dark in the loft, and he had taken off his goggles. She was presented with his glowing silver irises, she would never get used to his eyes she loved them that much. She loved the way his body moved, the prowling predator grace he had when he was hunting his enemy. Everything he did; got under her skin in a way she just could not explain. He had not done a damn thing to her other than pin her down and she was already on fire for him. Hell, did he have any idea about the power he had over her? “Yeah.”  
“Hmm, Interesting.” Riddick looked down at her; he released her face and her hands. He moved to the side of her but kept his legs hooked over hers. Even if she tried to get up, he was on the side near the door, she was still trapped. She waited for a while and he said nothing to her, just watched her. She tried to sit up, but he growled at her so she lay back down and waited for him to say or do something. When he finally did speak his voice was low and menacing, like a warning, and her entire body tensed in anticipation. “I haven’t even begun to ravish you.”   
She tried to pull back, but he pulled her forward, he buried his hand in the hair at the nape of her neck. He turned her head to his, claiming her mouth. She gasped at the suddenness of the change and his tongue swept into her moist cavern, devouring her, possessing her. Joining his tongue with hers, exploring the sensitive underside, tickling the most sensitive places. Then pulling back to bite and suck on her bottom lip. He was driving her to madness, with his mouth. He claimed her mouth again, but this time his hand started to roam. He had rarely explored her body, and this time he was everywhere. His hand was on her thighs pushing them open and pulling one of her legs around his waist, then his calloused fingers slid up under the hem of her night shirt. He must have been expecting underwear, but when his hand cupped her ass, he found none and he damn near purred against her mouth.   
He pulled her against him and she could feel his hard ridge through the towel. He rocked against her once, and she bucked against him. Her hands were on his shoulders, both pushing and pulling, her fingers clenching into his muscled arms. His hand left her bottom and moved to her chest undoing the buttons on her shirt, flicking the fabric open one button at a time. The movement of the fabric against her skin was torture, and she burned for him. He didn’t stop until every last button was open, and her burning flesh was visible to him. He pulled away from her ravaged lips so he could look at her body. She was breathing hard, her entire body felt inflamed. One of her arms had fallen across her chest covering his view, so he threaded his fingers through hers, the sensitive flesh of her hand tingled at the touch. Then he pulled her arm up and beside her head holding it there for a long moment before he released it. “Don’t move it from there, Rehtaeh, if you do-.”   
He pulled back anchored himself on one arm, and he took her in, she felt the urge to move to cover herself but was terrified of the open-ended threat. Would he hurt her? She doubted it, her fear was not that he would do her harm; her fear was that he would stop and pull away again. He pushed the panels of the shirt off of her chest-baring her completely, he growled at the sight of her full breasts, her narrow waist and the contours of her muscular abdomen. She watched him as he took in the sight of her body. She had spent hours in the gym. At first it was just to keep up with her older brothers, later to keep up with her military training and finally in the hopes to become an athlete on the Pro Circuit. She had been told so many times that her definition made her look too masculine, but that had never made sense to her, she was very curvaceous. Now she was unsure.   
“Beautiful.” He whispered to her, stilling her fears. He moved his hand up and over her breast not touching anything until the heel of his hand skimmed her nipple. The pink center was tight as he pulled his hand lightly against that hot sensitive tip. Then he leaned in and ran his tongue over it, then his teeth before gently biting. She gasped at the sensation of both pleasure and pain. He swirled the tip of his tongue around her nipple until it had hardened and became supersensitized, then a soft blowing breath made her whole body quake against him. Then he moved to the other side and started all over again.  
Touching with the palm of his hand until the tip was erect then his tongue took over, licking biting swirling around and around until she could barely stand it any longer. As his hot mouth explored her breasts, his clever fingers traced and dipped into every hollow, and every line of her abdomen. He seemed to relish in the feel of her pale skin. He was working his hand lower and lower. Then his lips left her breasts and started trailing tiny kisses, licks, nips and bites over the muscles he had just explored with his hand. She moaned softly as his exploring hands stopped on her hips holding her down as he trailed his tongue into her belly button before continuing his path to her hip bones. He stopped when his mouth reached her left hip bone, then he rose and moved to kneel between her knees. She lifted her head and rose propping herself up on her elbows.  
He ran his hands up and down her legs from thigh to hip to knee, where he hooked his hands and pulled her legs wide spreading her open, she gasped feeling super exposed. Instinct demanded that she close her legs, but his warning growl forbade her. She looked up at him, for a moment scared of what was to come. “Do you trust me, Rehtaeh?”  
“Yes.” She said, her voice sounded rough and husky to her own ears. She wanted whatever he was going to do even though she was uncertain of what that was. Her lust for him had taken over her body. She was no longer capable of logical thought.  
“Mmmm, my naïve little woman, you really shouldn’t be so trusting,” Riddick growled. He bit her inner thigh hard, not hard enough to break skin, but enough to show his dominance and force her to prove her trust in him. She flinched and cried out, the familiar searing pleasure, drowning out the sudden pain. “How much pain can you take, Rehtaeh, and still feel pleasure from my touch?”  
He bit her again but on the other thigh. As his fingers slipped further up tickling the first bite mark on her thigh to the heated bud and flower that was hidden at their apex. She was overwhelmed by sensation, the pain, and the pleasure together, twining as one. She cried out and arched up to receive his exploring fingers. He slid one finger in slowly, his thumb brushing the sensitive bud at the top, as he bit the flesh just on the inside of her knee. She gripped the coverings and clenched her fists as heat arced through her entire being. He slid his finger in and out creating a steady rhythm, building the fire inside her stroke after stroke. He pulled his finger back out and spread her some more. He bit her again a little further up her thigh as two fingers slipped into her hot, tight center, his thumb still circling her clit. She was a cord pulled tight and he was pulling the string, causing her to moan softly. Again he stroked her, filled her and built the fire hotter and hotter.   
She could see him in the darkness as he moved up her thigh with his mouth, biting her flesh as he added a third finger to spread the hot wet center of her. She was watching him, she expected each bite, each caress, each stroke and yet her body was in overdrive. It was stunned into a mass of quivering need. There was something she wanted, just out of reach. This was all new, and she wanted to feel all of it, focus on all of it, but there was so much that one touch could do to her. How did he do this to her? With one touch, he made her into nothing and everything. She was a tattered piece of silk unraveling under his touch. His head dipped and she felt his tongue lave over her clit, it was so hot, so wet, and so sensitive, she screamed and arched against him. He removed his fingers and his tongue explored her, tasted her, and impaled her. She cried out again and again as the sensation hit her. His sharp teeth bit lightly at her responsive bud. Again there was intense pain, followed by pulsing pleasure. She screamed in rapture.  
“Please, please. Richard, I need more.” She cried out through his ministrations. She was begging him for something that she didn’t understand. She heard him growl as he rose, ripped the towel away from his hips. He grabbed her hands and pulled them above her head. He claimed her lips, his tongue dancing with her own. The taste of her own juices was an erotic addition to the taste of him. He pulled away, biting her lower lip, drawing blood. He licked it away.   
“Say it again.” He growled at her, nibbling at her jaw as he made his way to her sensitive ear. His face was buried against her throat; she felt his hard shaft settle against her wet opening. He was waiting for her, and she was fractured, unsure she could even gasp the words.  
“I need more, Richard, I need you.” It came out as a husky growl, on a gasp. As he clamped down on her earlobe in a moment of pained pleasure, she yelled for him. “Please, Richard!”  
He entered her hard, pushing past her barrier. Breaking it in a moment of pain so intense, she was sure he had broken her. Then he began to move. He slid out almost to the tip and eased back in, every inch of him filling every bit of her. Long slow solid strokes, he moved into and out of her. Building her toward something, something so intense and yet still so distant. Her body reached for it but was denied. She whimpered in need as his member filled her again and again. He released her wrists and moved her legs, so they rested against his shoulders, then he grabbed her hips and slammed into her, hitting something inside her and she cried out. The pleasure was so ardent so clear; she arched up against him meeting his next stroke. He drove into her deeper and deeper, harder and faster, slamming into her, again and again. Her desire was matched only by his own as they moved together, grinding against each other, filling and being filled. Consumed by each other. He pushed her to the point of breaking, her entire being fractured and burst open. She screamed again and again as her spirit shattered into a climax of explosive emotion.   
He pulled out and turned her over onto her belly; he lifted her hips and slid into her hot moist depths again until he was entrenched to the root, his tip striking the bottom of her womb. There was no time to catch her breath as he drove her higher and higher. He fondled and pinched her nipples, tugging to the point she cried in contented agony, he mystified her. She was torn between exquisite pleasure and rapturous pain as he plowed into her grinding her against him. He moved against her unrelenting, wavering between soft and sensual to hard and unyielding until she was again screaming her release as wave after wave of intense rapture washed over her. She had just reached her peak, screaming is name, when he embedded himself within her and let his seed fill her womb, growling out his own release. Rocking gently against her as his seed spilled into her, and she slowly came back to herself.  
He rolled to his side, pulling out of her, she whimpered as the cold air took the place of his warm skin. She felt as empty as she did content and fulfilled. Oh, the things this man could do to her body and mind. He hauled her against him, wrapping his arms around her, cradling her to him. “This is only the beginning, Rehtaeh. When I am done, you will be fully ravished.”


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28  
Riddick  
She was more than he could have ever asked for in a lover. She gave as much as she took, and when he thought he could not take any more from her, she gave again. Her screams were addictive; he wanted to hear them again and again. So he took her over and over. Every time she started thrashing in her nightmares, he would wake her and give her reasons to scream. She was warm, willing and adventurous. The three weeks to New Mecca were filled with lust and passion and sex. He had successfully extended their trip by a week giving him more time with her. Twice their sparring matches turned into something else, both times he waited until she got that red rage look in her eyes and both times he made her shatter underneath him. She was something else, and she called for him, every time.   
They had just woken from a deep uninterrupted sleep, one in which Rehtaeh had not woken up screaming, for once. The alarm from the console told them that they were quickly approaching New Mecca. Jack, Suleiman, and Imam would be waking up. Their cryo was scheduled to disengage once they reached a certain distance from their destination. They dressed quickly. He had on his usual, cargos and a tank and the new boots he had bought at the transport station. Rehtaeh wore her jeans and a tight red t-shirt. Her heavy combat boots and the gun belt completed her gear. It suited her better than anything he could imagine her in. She grabbed her pack and shoved everything inside then hauled it down from the loft.   
Rehtaeh made them a quick breakfast using the last of the powdered scrambled eggs and some bacon that she had found in the freezer, once again she made enough for an army. Which was probably a good thing because once the others were released from their cryo slumber, they were starving and the leftovers did not last long.  
“If you guys wanna take turns showering now, you can go ahead, there is a shower on this level and once upstairs,” Rehtaeh told them from the pilot seat. She was running through the systems checks preparing for the upcoming landing. “There are clothes for each of you stowed under the cots. They aren’t much and may not be your taste, but we did our best and at least they are clean.”  
Jack grabbed her bag of clothes and headed directly to the shower in the loft. Suleiman claimed the one on the lower level, taking his bag with him as well.   
“Chronos says we are behind schedule, Riddick. You told me it would take two weeks to reach New Mecca, it has been over four.” Imam said quietly, looking back in the direction the kids had gone.   
“Ran into trouble. A Merc from the Kublai Khan decided to come after us, then we found out that Rehtaeh’s kidnapper has a hit out on her.” Riddick told him quietly, giving him the short version. He knew Jack had a tendency to eavesdrop, and he didn’t want her mixed up in his or Rehtaeh’s problems. “We had to create a diversion to dump the merc, and took care of some goons that were going for the hit on Rehtaeh.”  
“So you are still planning on leaving us in New Mecca?” Imam asked uncertain, even though the Maps on the com unit obviously stated that they were headed to Helion Prime. He was moving about the cabin to each of the convertible cots and rearranging them into bench seats for the landing. He noticed Rehtaeh had gotten exceptionally quiet. She hated hearing him talk about leaving. She usually kissed him into silence or straight up told him not to go there.  
“Yes, Rehtaeh has property there. We will be landing there, and then scoping out the rest of the city later. Heath and Carolyn are still two days behind us.” Riddick told the other man as Jack walked into the room parading around in the new black cargos and blue T-Shirt that Rehtaeh had bought her. Apparently she liked her clothes. They definitely fit her better than the other ones did. “Last we heard from Heath, they were picking up transmissions regarding heavy merc traffic in the area. So I am going to lay low in New Mecca until Heath arrives and then I will take off.”   
“So Carolyn is okay?” Jack asked excitedly. Looking from Riddick to Imam and over at Rehtaeh’s shadowed form at the console.  
“Yeah, she made it.” Riddick said solemnly. If it hadn’t been for Rehtaeh Carolyn wouldn’t have gotten off of T2 at all. Rehtaeh was calling the planet Hades, since in her eyes it had been as bad as the Devil’s underworld. She had saved the woman again on the Kublai Khan, since Antonia would have preferred to have killed the pilot out right.   
“So Rehtaeh scrapping her clothes to make bandages was actually worth it?” Jack asked callously. Riddick was surprised at how cold Jack sounded towards a woman that she seemed to care about.   
“Jack! Of course it was worth it! Carolyn’s life is worth much more than some pieces of fabric.” Imam scolded the girl. She moved to one of the bench seats and settled down to sulk. Not having liked the rebuff she had gotten from Imam. Suleiman joined them, his clothes were a little big on him, but the boy didn’t complain. He just took a seat beside Jack and they started talking about the things they wanted to see and do in New Mecca.  
“She learned to pilot the ship in two weeks?” Imam asked him; looking past him to the woman in the pilot seat. She had reengaged Manual controls a few minutes before, and other than a slight adjustment for approach speed there had barely even been an indication. For most people flying a ship would take years of training. Considering how Riddick preferred to be in control of his surroundings, he could tell the holy man was surprised that Riddick had let her anywhere near the controls. They had disengaged auto pilot for a few hours every day so that Rehtaeh could practice exercises. She was a very good student, she learned quickly and was attentive to detail. He put her though several different emergency drills each day, some days she would need guidance and others she would come up with creative ways to extricate the ship from the problem that he created for her.  
“Four weeks, remember? We ran into some trouble along the way. We will talk about that later.” Riddick said as he watched her forward her landing request to the New Mecca Port tower. “She’s doing pretty good. All that’s left to learn is the landing.”  
“You mean she is landing the ship for the first time now? Hasn’t she done simulations?” Imam asked incredulous as he buckled into his seat. Riddick smirked at the fear he heard in his voice and smelled coming off of him.   
“This is a Merc ship, Imam, not a training vessel.” Riddick growled.   
“Half an hour to landing people, if you don’t have a seat, grab one and buckle in. Once we hit atmo it’s gonna get rocky.” She called back over her shoulder to them. He moved to her side and looked down at her she glanced up and arched a brow at him and ordered, “Sit, you need to talk me through the landing.”  
“Rehtaeh,” Riddick growled at her, she grinned back up at him. He just stopped and stared at her wondering if she had figured out yet what that did to him. “Ask me nice.”  
“Riddick, I am not going to beg you.” She growled at him lowly. He couldn’t see her eyes, but the look on her face said she could be convinced. He flicked a few switches on the console and returned the ship auto pilot. Crouching down he grabbed her upper arm and swept his arm under her legs and he lifted her up out of her chair. She shrieked in surprise and started to laugh as she struggled to free herself from his hold. Crushing her against him he stilled all of her movements when his hand slipped up her back and under her shirt. Her laughter died away and she reached to touch his face, searching his eyes. He could smell her arousal instantly, she always fired for him with a single touch. She could go from solid angry ice to smoldering fire in seconds. Her breath hitched as she whispered softly, “Please? I need to learn, you are the best teacher I have ever had.”  
“Since you put it so nice,” he smirked at her and dropped her back into her chair.   
“One of these days, Riddick, I am going to turn the tables on you.” She promised him, her voice was still husky with the heat of her arousal. They were going directly to her place, just on the outskirts of the massive city. He took the seat beside her walked her quickly through the landing protocols. It was all stuff he had taught her before when she was memorizing book maneuvers. But this was her first landing and she was nervous. He was reminding her of her checklist. Finally she looked at him and nodded. She was ready. He sat back and watched her put the ship through docking maneuvers.   
She called in their destination to the local towers in order to keep Riddick’s voice off of the airways. Her light touch at the controls made the ship responsive to her, having had time to learn and understand the ship’s mechanics over the past few weeks. As he had instructed, she powered through the burn-up in the atmosphere and slowed just after they hit pressurized air, allowing the ship to settle and for the turbulence to stop. He didn’t have to say a word, his run down had been enough to remind her of the tasks she needed to work through. They dropped stealthily towards the ground as the Tower gave her a confirmation on her landing coordinates. She set the craft down gently, and then powered down like Riddick instructed her. Once she was done, she turned the unlocking mechanism on the hatch and started down the ramp.  
“I am going to do a sweep and ensure it is safe. Do not leave the ship until I have the security turned off at the house.” Rehtaeh ordered them, grabbed her pack and exited the ship. Riddick watched her walk down the ramp, enjoying the view.  
“That was intense,” Jack needled him with her elbow, looking up at him and then across the yard at Rehtaeh. “Somethin’ goin’ on between you Riddick?”  
“Leave it alone Jack. It is what it can be.” Riddick growled keeping his response cryptic. He was not giving a twelve year old the details on his love life.  
“Where is this place?” Jack asked looking around curiously at the massive house on the hill overlooking a large blue sea.  
“Rehtaeh’s house in New Mecca.” Riddick said, he was standing just on the inside of the hatch watching the woman as she scouted out the property and made her way to the large house. It looked like a white classical structure with black tiles on the roof. It had massive columns and windows with shutters. It looked pretentious, completely unlike Rehtaeh. He could see she was not overly pleased with it. She looked back at Riddick speculatively; she had reached the main doors and was entering her information into the security panel beside the door. Nothing happened. A small frown marred her face. She dropped her pack and opened it up, pulling out her small bag. She fished out a small metal object that looked a lot like gaming dice and she stood back up. She turned back to the doors, and pushed the metal into the door. Within moments the door swung open and she grabbed her pack and entered the building.   
He knew she was doing a sweep of the premises. None of them knew what dangers might be awaiting her in there. It could be an ambush, by Remner or the Alliance. Rehtaeh did not want him caught in the middle of something if there was and she wanted him to be able to get the others to safety if something happened. Riddick had growled at her when she had told him of her plan, he didn’t want her in danger any more than she wanted him in danger.   
Minutes ticked down past the time limit they agreed on and Riddick commanded the others to stay put. He ran cautiously to the front door, knives drawn, he entered the large main entry doors. There was a long high table beside the door and the only thing on it was a stone bowl in a clear jade color, in the bowl was an old fashioned key attached to a ring and a chain. At the end was a black metallic die. He picked it up and looked at it for a moment before dropping it back into the dish. It made a ‘tink’ noise as it hit the glass and he was reminded of the noise that had started her temper tantrum on the Hunter Gratzner weeks ago. A lump of worry hardened in the pit of his belly. There was something wrong here. He walked past a massive curving staircase that rose to the second floor. He passed the half bathroom and the laundry area through an open concept kitchen with the stainless steel and black appliances and dining area with a table that would seat ten people. He walked into an enormous family area with a huge circular fireplace in the center with the rock covered chimney that reached the vaulted ceiling.  
He looked up and saw that there was a balcony above and that the second story only had rooms on one half the rest was open making the room feel even more cavernous than it already was. All of the walls were a soft jade green color, and there were massive windows facing the beach letting in enough light that she would not need lights at all during the day, at first he thought that she would need to wear her sunglasses in these rooms all the time, until he saw that there were slatted shutters built into the windows. The place was fully furnished; it was eclectic, if you were to try to describe the pieces that filled it. Massive overstuffed leather sofas in reds, browns, and blacks, circled the fireplace. He followed Rehtaeh’s scent as he moved through the room. Her scent was on a thick knit blanket that had hundreds of shades and colors. He noted that there were similar scents on the blankets, similar and yet different.   
A pair of matching wood frame daybeds ran parallel to each other in front of a massive wall of books on towering shelves that came complete with a rolling ladder. The furniture had once been white and painted over with black cracked paint, colorful throw blankets and pillows scattered the furniture, with colorful rugs and curtains and massive potted plants. Everything was clean; completely dust free and with Helion Prime’s desert-like state that was nearly impossible. Someone had been coming here to take exceptional care of this place for last few months.  
He opened a door at the far end of the room and found a large study, but it was empty and he moved on. The next door hid the stairs to the basement, where he found a large games room, with an old school billiards table, and some other game boards and tables that he had never seen before. It had a fully stocked bar, with a sink and miniature refrigerator. Most dive bars he had frequented were not set up as well as the bar in that rec room.   
The next room was large and dark and angled downwards towards some sort of screen device, it looked like a massive computer screen. There were big comfortable looking chairs built into the floors. She was not in that room either, so he moved on to the next one. It was filled with an assortment of musical instruments, piano, cello, drums, several different guitars, string instruments, wind instruments, brass woodwind. He couldn’t name most of the instruments that covered the walls, shelves and floor. On the side were a couple smaller rooms with glass walls, one had some computer equipment the other slightly larger room had several microphone stands. It looked like some sort of old fashioned recording studio. The only other room in the basement was a bed room with a large walk in bathroom. There was nothing special about the room, it looked almost as though it belonged in a hotel, rather than a house. Rehtaeh was not on this floor.   
He followed her scent to a smaller set of stairs at the very back of the music room. It went straight up to the second story of the house. The bedrooms all faced the back of the house all linked by a single mezzanine-like walkway that overlooked the massive living room and fireplace below. There was the narrow stair case that he had just come up from the basement and he could see the long curved staircase that rose from the main entry way. The first room he opened was painted in a light gray with a massive bed and matching furniture that was equal in size and stature. Like the bedroom in the basement there was a full bathroom in this room, this one just seemed to be of higher quality with more attention to detail. It was obviously the master suite. The next three rooms were set up almost exactly like the one in the basement. They had very little personality; each one had its own en suite bathroom.   
The fourth was painted steel gray with black and red trim, curtains, and bedding. There was a door to the left that looked to be an en suite bathroom. There was an easel in one corner, posters of people up on the walls. There was a large desk with an assortment of gadgets sitting on it. Trophies and ribbons and medals were mounted on shelves around the room. The scent of Rehtaeh was strong in this room, made stronger by the discarded back pack that sat in the middle of the room. Still there was no sign of Rehtaeh. He went back out to the hall and took a small set of curved stairs up to a small loft and that was where he found her.   
She stood still as a statue from the Kublai Khan. She had taken off her glasses. They were clenched in her fist, the broken glass cutting into her hand. Shards of glass and frame had fallen on the floor, the blood from her hand dripping onto the hardwood floor. She was staring at a painting on the wall, her face had turned into a cold mask, a twitch in her jaw was the only visible indication of her emotional state. He could smell her rage, she was barely holding it together.   
He looked at the painting on the wall. It was of her parents, he remembered them from her drawings. There was something different about this one though. Her mother’s face was serene, happy, contented. Her father’s though, his face was stern, cold, almost angry. Lines that came from frowning too often gave the man a miserable countenance. Was it possible that this was the reality of her father? A hard man through and through. Had Rehtaeh only held on to an image of some ideal idol in her head?   
“Rehtaeh,” he said softly walking toward her. She didn’t turn to him, didn’t look at him, instead she launched herself at the painting. Hauling it off the wall she plunged her bloody fist through it, rending the fabric. She screamed in rage as she tore it from the frame and rent the canvas into small frayed hanks of colored cloth, dropping them on the floor before collapsing in a heap among them. His strong fierce woman was suddenly broken. He hauled her into his arms, he didn’t say anything, and he just let her cry. She held him tight, like she was holding on for dear life as deep wracking sobs took over her body.   
“Everything in my life was a lie. I am a monster! I was never supposed to live. He hated me from the minute I was born until the moment his own bullet destroyed his brain.” Rehtaeh whispered once the tears stopped, she just shuddered limply against his chest. “I just couldn’t, couldn’t believe, he hated me that much. I only wanted him to care about me like he did my brothers. I tried so hard to please him until I realized that nothing I did was good enough, so then I went wild. I stopped caring what he thought and started living my life the way I wanted. He killed her for it.”   
“I thought you dealt with all of this.” Riddick reminded her. She had told him all of this without a single tear just weeks ago, what had changed?  
“I did until I came here. This is their house, from the music room, theater and bar downstairs. To the pool and hot tub outside overlooking the water. They must have built this house using dad’s blueprints.” Rehtaeh’s voice was small and sad. “It is an exact replica of the one I grew up in. The only thing different is the home gym that they added beside the pool. My brothers’ rooms were converted into spare bedrooms when they moved off planet. It was just my parents and me living at home. I had a studio apartment in Las Vegas, near the training facility, and the Gym is a replica of the one I had set up in my living room. They brought everything Riddick. They stored everything and when they decided to release me, they rebuilt everything I once knew, right down to the smallest detail.”  
“I walked to the door and my key still opens the lock, the house is filled with my parents’ things. These were my parents’ things. I can still smell them, in the air, on the blanket, on the pillows and rugs. The plants are different, but the planters are the same. It is like they are here in this room, but I will never see them again.” Riddick realized what had hit her. The Alliance had stored all of her parents’ belongings for her. During her ‘service’ they had packed and stored everything that had ever belonged to her and her family and put it in containment until she could use it again. They just hadn’t considered her response to these things five hundred years later. “And then I see this, the one painting I ever did that was more realistic than anything I had ever done before. I remember having them pose for me. Mom always held her love in her eyes. Letting it radiate so the world could see how proud she was of us. I remember him glaring at me the entire time. Hating me for some reason I didn’t understand. All I ever saw was that look, the one he reserved just for me. After what he did to her, I just could not stand to look at him like this ever again. I had to destroy it.”  
“You destroyed more than the painting Rehtaeh, look at your hand.” Riddick told her taking it into his own. He pulled out the glass from the wound and hauled her to her feet. He pulled her into the bathroom that connected to her bedroom and he cleaned out the wound, running it under the clear water from the tap. She opened the mirror and pulled out some gauze and tape with her free hand.   
“I was a klutz, so mom kept my medicine cabinet fully stocked.” Rehtaeh smiled at him, tear stains had created streaks on her face. He made quick work of her wound and they went back for the others.   
While Rehtaeh gave the others a tour of the house Riddick went back to the ship and sent a communication out to Heath and Carolyn, who were two days out that the coast was clear. He told Heath about the house, where it was in comparison to the city and how defensible it seemed to be and where it seemed to be lacking. Heath agreed that they would have to tighten the defenses at the house before Riddick left. Carolyn started asking questions and Riddick cut the communication short. He wasn’t going to answer questions again as to why he was leaving Rehtaeh. The damn pilot just wouldn’t leave it alone. He would do anything to keep Rehtaeh safe. Even if it meant leaving her.  
He walked back into the house and heard voices coming from rooms on the second floor so he made his way towards the others. Imam was standing at the door to a room that and Rehtaeh was showing Jack and Suleiman how to use the music player that was sitting on one of the shelves above the desk. The song had a driving beat and the person was speaking to Mama, ‘Mama we all go to hell’ or some such thing, there were guitars, drums and harmonies. It sounded almost demonic and Rehtaeh was right into it, singing along. Imam looked completely dismayed at her choice in music. Jack was grinning from ear to ear. Poor Suleiman wasn’t sure what to think of the music at all.  
“What in the world are you listening to?” Imam asked in almost horror. Riddick chuckled from behind him.  
“My Chemical Romance, it is a band from the early twenty first century. Great beat, interesting lyrics, a little crazy and dark.” Rehtaeh caught Riddick’s eye and smiled at him, her grin was almost feral; she was purposely being cheeky with him. “Here, you will probably like ‘Famous Last Words’ better. It was more mainstream, got the most public play. Teenagers did too, but it was still pretty dark, I don’t imagine you would like that one over much.”  
Rehtaeh was flipping through some of the other things in the room, she opened a box sitting on the top of a large dresser and pulled out a pair of black diamond studded sunglasses that wrapped tight around her face. He could hear the tiny sigh of relief as the dark glasses eased the pain from the bright light in the room. She opened and shut a few more drawers before turning to a mirrored closet. She opened it up and flipped through some of the clothes she found hanging within. Everything was red, black or gray. Her colors. These were her things, little pieces of her. Then she reached into the back of the closet and started pulling out what looked like large panels. Jack turned to see what she was doing and stopped her eyes going wide. “Wow, Rehtaeh. Did you make those?”  
“Yeah, these are mine.” She whispered back.   
Suleiman stepped up beside Jack, and looked down over Rehtaeh’s shoulder to see what she was doing as well. “Those are very good.”  
Imam and Riddick moved further into the room to see what she was looking at. They were paintings, on canvas like the ones in the museums, each and every one was signed Ennaline. There were landscapes of mountains, and lakes and valleys that stretched before the eyes. There were animals at play; there were cityscapes of tall metal and glass buildings that reached the bright blue sky. There was one of a man and a woman curled together in a hammock on a beach looking out over the sunset waters. Each and every one of them had detail and emotion, and life. “It was hard to make a life as an artist, so I just worked at it as a hobby.”  
“They are very beautiful, Rehtaeh.” Imam looked at her, an odd look on his face. He was trying to figure out these odd little facets of this enigma of a woman. Riddick had given up on that idea days ago. He was just going along for the ride that was Rehtaeh.  
“Thank you Imam. Maybe someday when life is more settled, I will paint something for you.” She smiled a half smile for him. Her eyes were sad. She placed everything back into the closet. She picked her back pack up off of the floor and turned towards the girl, “I know that it probably isn’t your taste Jack, but if you like you can sleep in this room. I will be taking my parent’s room, it just makes sense.”   
“Really?” Jack seemed quite pleased with the fact that Rehtaeh was allowing her to stay in such an intimate space. Rehtaeh just smiled back at her before brushing past Imam and Riddick on her way out the door. She opened the door to the next room. It was a pale blue room. Everything was in a shade or hue of blue.   
“Imam, the blue is supposed to be serene and calming, it too has its own bathroom. You can sleep here if you do not have other plans?” Rehtaeh offered the man. Riddick wondered if the holy man had family in the city, or perhaps connections that he was hoping to meet up with. He had seemed to be searching for something when he had been on Hajj, perhaps he was scoping out New Mecca as a possible new home? Regardless Rehtaeh just couldn’t seem to bear the idea of anyone being without a place to stay. This irritated Riddick, he wanted her to himself. “You may stay here as long as you like.”  
“Thank you, Rehtaeh. It may take me a few weeks to get my affairs settled and to find a place of my own, until then I will gladly accept your offer.” Imam bowed to her in thanks and entered the room, carrying the bag of clothes that Riddick had procured for him.  
She continued on. There were two more spare bedrooms on the second floor, each with its own bathroom. One was decorated in greens and the other one in soft yellows and purples. She gave Suleiman his choice of room, and being a typical boy, he chose the green room. He put the remainder of his new clothes in one of the dressers and went back with Jack to explore the pool that Rehtaeh had told them was outside.  
“Shall we go check out the weapons vault?” Rehtaeh looked up at him. Now that the others had been taken care of she was turning her attention back to him. She didn’t wait for an answer, she just grabbed his hand and pulled him back down stairs through the massive living room to a study that he had disregarded while looking for her. She stopped in front of what looked like a massive black bookshelf, filled with hundreds of books in every shape and size. She looked at it with a mixture of curiosity and love.   
Then she pressed on the back of one of the panels in the bookshelf and it swung open, revealing a completely stocked armory of weapons. Some of them hundreds of years old, collectables now, though he knew that she had handled them and used them at one point in time as everyday items. There were just as many new weapons mixed in. It was as though someone had known that she would want and need to have a complete array of weaponry at her disposal.  
He followed her in, and as he did he realized that the room was much bigger than he first thought it would be. There were several gun cages along each wall, as well as cabinets that held a massive variety of knives, daggers, swords, half swords. On one shelf was a Daisho, Rehtaeh stood in front of it for a long moment before touching the smallest and top most sword, “Wakizashi,” and, “Katana, worn together they are a Daisho.”   
“Whose are they?” Riddick asked softly behind her.  
“My mothers, she was an exchange student during secondary education, and became a student of a Samurai Master. He only taught her because he said he saw a fire within her that he had not seen since his daughter, who had died in a tragic airplane accident in 2014. She was very beautiful. Mother showed me a picture of her once. She was completely different from my mom, other than height and eye color.” Rehtaeh’s voice was very soft and gentle as she regarded the swords. “They were made using the seven layer method, they are very strong, and when properly cared for, very sharp.”  
She turned to him and smiled. She was radiant; this was her territory, surrounded by her weapons. “Would you like to see my favorite toys?”  
He was certain that she was going to open a gun case, considering the ease in which she handled the weapons. She moved deeper into the room and turned towards a tall wooden cabinet, she pressed the panels which swept open revealing several composite bows. She pointed out two, one was a hefty cabled contraption, and the other was lighter but much longer, it was easily taller than she was and made of wood. She picked up the cabled bow, strung the cord and pulled back, he could see her sighting an imaginary prey as she centered herself, drew back, and loosed the imaginary arrow. She sighed and he could smell her arousal, this woman was definitely made for him.   
“This is what we called a modern hunting bow. You could get them with various flex and balance; some cabled and rigged, and others in the old style. As primitive as archery seems to those who prefer guns, these babies could provide you with the most ultimate challenge. Not every shot is a guaranteed hit. Every bulls-eye is a work of art. Every kill is supremely personal, both the hunter and the hunted exist from one breath to the next, the silence, the patience for which you wait for your target. As you know, I love a challenge.” She placed it back in the cabinet and turned to the other one. She strung it as well and repeated the same procedure. This bow took effort for her to pull and she was not as steady with it as she had been with the other. She handed it to him so he could pull it. It was an easier effort for him to pull back on the string, but even in his hand he was unsteady, it would take some practice to get used to such a weapon. “This one is a long bow; it is meant for distance, only a master can hit a target from a great distance, it is beautiful to use and to try and master. It was fashioned after the old Welsh long bows from fifteenth century England. Mine stands at two meters in height, and my best shot was just under three hundred meters. A master would be able to achieve nearly three hundred fifty. This one is my father’s; you will find that it is much stiffer than mine. He was considered a master archer.”  
“This would have made Hades more fun?” Riddick asked her remembering her words, after he returned for the cell.  
“Oh, yes, especially if I had these babies.” She reached above her to a shelf inside the cabinet and pulled down a box of arrows that had what looked like fuel and flint inside the head. There were others in another box that she pulled down that had a grayish green powder inside a clear bullet-like arrowhead, “These arrows are technically for trick shots. They ignite upon impact. It would have been a lot of fun to light them up. These clear ones are explosives, we could have had fireworks! Imagine it Riddick, exploding blue-blooded bio-raptors. I’d call it the Bio-Raptor Bloodbath Extraordinaire!”  
“You have a strange sense of fun, Rehtaeh.” Riddick looked at her with admiration. She was creative and energetic, cunning and sweet. Wild and a little crazy. Contained Chaos, the nickname fit her quite well. She blushed beautifully under his gaze and as usual she got flustered.  
“Hey, I didn’t say we would have survived, but it would have been fun to take them out. Choose some weapons Riddick; I am sure in all of this you can find something that you like as much as your shiv. Just not the Daisho or these two bows, I am partial to them.” She left him then, he was surrounded by weapons of every shape and size and she had told him to choose some, not one or two, but some. He picked up her composite bow, and was surprised at how light the cabled contraption was, it was just as light as the wooden bow had been. Flexing the cord, just to see what it felt like in his hands, he was surprised by the tension. She was stronger than she looked. He knew this and understood it, but he was still surprised by it. He placed the bow back in its place and closed the cabinet. Perhaps when he was on his way to UV he would grab one of her father’s bows for hunting, but for now he wanted knives. He preferred the intimacy of a blade, there was passion and grace in wielding such a weapon.   
It was like walking into a shop specializing in knives he had such a selection. They were all well-made, as though someone who knew a lot about knives had taken the time to select each and every one. Some had wicked curved blades, others were straight up daggers. There were dozens of tactical military or survival knives, some with foldable or retractable blades. He found three that were light, well made and balanced. One that would fit nicely in his boot and the other two had a scabbard that could be strapped to his shoulders or on a belt. Once he had them on his body he walked out of the vault and closed the panel, the bookshelf slid back into place.   
Rehtaeh had called out for food delivery and while he had been selecting his knives the order had arrived. She had spread the various foods on the kitchen counters, along with dishes and utensils from the kitchen cabinets. Imam had called the kids to eat and everyone was serving themselves before moving to the massive table to eat their meals. She must have also called for a grocer delivery because there were bags upon bags of fresh foods on the floor near the pantry which she was sorting through and putting away. He grabbed a plate of food and sat at the table to eat watching everyone interacting. Rehtaeh was almost motherly to both of the teenagers. She made them clean the dishes and put away the food when everyone was done telling them that chores were good for developing responsibility.  
Jack and Suleiman retired to the home theater in the basement, Imam grabbed a book from the study and reclined in one of the heavy chairs in the living room. Rehtaeh took his hand and led him upstairs. She stopped at the last free guest room and turned to him, a question filling her eyes. She wanted to know if he was going to sleep in his own room. There was a small flicker of doubt in her eyes as she looked at the door. There was only one room Riddick was interested in sleeping in and that was where ever Rehtaeh was sleeping. He would enjoy his time in her bed until Heath arrived and they could make a proper plan to take care of her abuser, and after that he would be gone. For all of their own safety, he would need to distance himself from her. Until then, he planned to enjoy her and her body to excess.   
He nudged her forwards and followed as she entered the last door. This room was by far the largest, with the largest bed. It was decorated in a softer gray than her own room was, but again the accent colors were black and red. Above the bed was a massive headboard made of cushioned black leather and from the roof hung a black leather cushioned box. From it hung sheer red curtains that flowed around the bed, which when untied would create an intimate private retreat. Rehtaeh moved around the room pulling the shutters closed and pulling the blackout shades, until the room was completely dark. She sighed and removed her sunglasses, placing them on one of the bedside tables. She didn’t look in the dressers, or the closets in this room. She sat on the edge of the bed and laid back looking up at the roof.  
He stepped in and locked the door behind him, and then he walked around the room taking it in. Large wide mirrored closets created a mirrored wall type of effect. That could be interesting. There were two dressers on either side of the room and a large leather lounge at the back of the bed. Off to the right was a massive tiled bathroom. There was an area for the toilet separate from the standing shower stall and a massive two person bath tub. He could think of ways to put both the shower and the tub to good use. He walked back out to the bedroom and leaned against one of the dressers across from her.   
“How am I supposed to live in a house that reminds me of everything I lost?” She sighed as she looked up at the leather that covered the roof above the bed.  
“It reminds you of everyone you loved.” Riddick told her. He stood between her legs and leaned over her putting a hand on either side of her head.  
“It doesn’t remind me of you.” She looked up at him, her hand lifted touching his face, caressing his cheek. Her other hand came up and she pulled off his goggles and sighed as she looked into his eyes. “I need memories of you Richard B. Riddick, to fill these walls while you are away. I won’t be happy unless I can feel you and smell you in every room. I want to keep you with me, but I know that is not meant to be, so instead, I want everything you can give me until you leave.”  
“Consider it done.” He growled as he took her mouth, drawing her tongue out to play with his. He still had a few tricks he wanted to show her, and he wanted to hear her scream.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29  
Rehtaeh  
She was up early and out of the house before the sun rose, leaving Riddick sleeping in her bed. He would follow her into town later if she was not back before two in the afternoon. After finding the rest of her wardrobe that she had left behind at her parents place, she had moved it all into her parent’s room. She let Riddick take whatever he wanted from her father’s things, but he really didn’t have the same tastes. Besides her dad was a strict military man, he rarely wore anything that was not a uniform of some sort. She planned to sort through her parents things later, after her parole, ‘rehabilitation’ and Remner were taken care of.  
She dressed in tight black jeans, careful to put her ID permits and UD card into the small secret pocket on the inside of them and a deep gray long sleeve jersey shirt that hugged her curves. She wore a different pair of combat boots, these ones were also black leather steel toed, but they had several scabbards hidden on the inside as well as a toe knife. Living in Vegas had given her ample time to break them in, but she had forgotten them at her parents’ place the last time she had been home. The black leather was soft and supple, from use and abuse. She wore her own gun belt, leaving behind the one she had gotten from Mac, as nice as it was, it didn’t fit her as well. She holstered her own weapons in it making sure that she had more than enough ammunition in case she came under fire. In total she had four knives in her boots, her two guns and two knives in her gun belt and a longer knife in a scabbard down her back. Over top she wore a long black trench jacket with an oversized hood.  
Riddick knew where she was going, and he understood the advantage of her going alone before daylight. He helped her work out the details while they were still on the ship by pulling up several maps of New Mecca so that they knew where she was going. She also investigated any travel options she might need considering how far she lived from the government sector in down town New Mecca. Happily she found a Quonset on the property that held two hover bikes and a hovercraft that would carry up to eight people. It was just her heading out that morning, so she took one of the heavy bikes.   
It took her no time to get to the government base, a massive compound surrounded by thick brick fencing with razor wire on the tops. There were military types covering every entrance, each one of them was heavily armed. She went to one of the gates and held up her Level 9 Military pass, he looked at her in surprise. “Ms. Furya. I was told to expect you, but with the price on your head no one really thought you would come in.”  
“And yet here I am.” She told him, pulling off her helmet, and shaking out her hair. The long blonde hair had been braided, but there were tendrils that had escaped and were now sticking to her face.  
“Are you certain you should be out in public Ms. Furya?” The man asked her carefully.  
“If there was a sniper out there I’d already be dead, and if they were close I would know it.” She looked at him levelly. She would have felt them around her if they had followed her. He moved for something behind him and with her right hand she whipped out the gun strapped to that hip and pointed it at him. “And if someone does try something, I am fully armed.”  
He looked at the gun in surprise and then back at her. He slowly moved his hand and hit a button behind him that raised the gate then he lifted his hands to where she could see them and gave her a half smile. “I am glad to hear it. General Tiller will be in building three, if someone tries to disarm you flash your credentials they will let you through.”  
“Thank you, sir.” She holstered her weapon, and gave him a proper salute, and he followed suit. She moved the bike forward slowly. She parked in the lot closest to building three, knowing that she might need to make a quick getaway depending on what her contact told her.   
It was a large compound. There were eight buildings total. Buildings one through three were the tallest being that they were the ones that were open to the public. She walked to the back doors which accessed the actual compound. When they scoped out the compound during their planning sessions they decided that this would be the safest way for her to get to her contact. Using her credentials she could come and go as standard military personnel, making her less of a public figure. Therefore less of a target. Anyone on her tail would likely think that she would prefer to go in as though she were general public, part of a crowd, making her harder to spot. She figured that since they would be watching for her arrival through the public entrance, they would be less likely to be watching for her to go in like the military personnel she actually was. Besides, she wanted it on public record that she had shown up as her Parole Release Statement commanded that she did.  
The main floor of building three was pure public space, it was open to anyone. Since it was early morning, it was currently cool and dark. Very few people had yet to gather to see their city officials. She would have to go up a floor to actually get any real service. So that was what she did. She stuck to the shadows and headed directly to a back stair well. In her mind she kept whispering ‘I am a shadow, no one can see me.’ When she reached the top of the stairwell she looked around carefully, reaching out with her senses, feeling where the people were. She felt one woman at the main reception desk, and two people in the large office behind her. Other than the three there were no others in the near vicinity.   
She stepped out of the shadows and up to the desk. Rehtaeh waited for the woman at the desk to look up at her, but she seemed very absorbed in her work and didn’t even notice her. She was dark haired and wore what seemed to be linen pants and a tunic, both in a soft russet color, her skin was a soft mocha color and her eyes were a deep dark brown. He wore a teal colored sash as a belt and a teal colored scarf over her hair. Rehtaeh thought her quite beautiful and she was working hard at entering some information into the computer in front of her. She cleared her throat and put her credentials on the desk in front of her. The woman jumped with a gasp, her eyes wide in fear. She seemed completely startled even though Rehtaeh had been standing in front of her for over three minutes. “Oh! I am so sorry, you startled me. I didn’t see you standing there.”   
“I am here to see General Tiller.” Rehtaeh told the woman, a small smirk quirked her lips.   
“She is in with someone at the mo-.” The woman looked at her credentials, and nearly jumped up from her seat and ran to the office door behind her, waving at Rehtaeh to follow. She was looking over Rehtaeh’s shoulder as though she were expecting trouble. “Come in, hurry, you will be safe inside.”  
“Thank you for your concern, it is not necessary. There is no threat at the-.” Rehtaeh smiled at the insistent woman as she was ushered into the office. “Okay, never mind.”  
She stepped into the office. It was large and paneled in dark woods with deep reddish brown chairs and big heavy furniture. The fiery red haired General Tiller was seated at her massive executive desk her hands folded together in front of her on the desk. She wore a standard gray military uniform, with the medals that decorated her rank. An older woman stood in front of the desk across from her. She was ghostly pale wearing soft muted colors, in a flowing type of dress. White hair framed a gentle face, one that at the moment seemed much too fierce for her features. It marred her genteel beauty. They seemed to be in a heated argument about something.   
The redhead stood in protest at the interruption, until she saw Rehtaeh enter. Rehtaeh stopped just inside the door and saluted her commanding officer. General Tiller looked surprised and after a moment saluted her back. “What happened we got reports and inquiries about you at a transport station, they were saying that your ship was damaged, all sorts of odd questions and an investigation into some gang that tried to carry through with the hit.”  
“The ship crashed. A few of us survived and got away, it is a long story. I did not mean to interrupt your conversation. I apologize, I can wait outside.” She wished to be part of the shadows and hidden from sight, she felt embarrassed and frustrated for being led into an uncomfortable and tense situation. Rehtaeh turned to leave the office, spinning on her heal, her long coat swirling in the shadows around her.   
“Wait!” The older woman said to her, it was an order and Rehtaeh hesitated for only a moment before stopping on her way out. She turned back slowly. “Who and what are you, child?”  
“Aereon, this is the girl I told you about Reh-.” General Tiller started.  
“Farah, I want her to answer my question.” Aereon hushed the general and turned back to Rehtaeh. “Who and what are you, child?”  
“My name is Rehtaeh Ennaline Furya, I am the sister time forgot, the heart of seven. I am red on black.” Rehtaeh whispered, why had she said that? It was her response from her dream, the one that always got her killed.   
“That is not all, is it? What are you, Rehtaeh?” The elderly woman demanded, Rehtaeh bristled, her heart pounding.  
The next thing out of her mouth shocked her as well as the other women in the room. She whispered, “I am the Shadow Mage. I am the Source.”  
“Holy shit.” Farah said looking completely shell shocked. It was that look that was reserved for someone who was both revered and terrifying. She sat back down in her chair and looked up at Rehtaeh with something akin to awe on her beautiful features.   
“It is as I told you Farah, the end of days begins. We must find the one who will bring balance back to the universe, or she will not live long enough to bring back the lost realms.”Aereon looked Rehtaeh from foot to head and back down again.   
“Who are you?” Rehtaeh whispered. She was getting strange vibes from this woman. Her presence at a distance had felt cold, but in close quarters her light airy aura was a surprising warmth. She couldn’t quite read her. “Why did I introduce myself as I did? I have never spoken those words out loud.”  
“I am an Ambassador for Quintessa, I am an Air Elemental.” The white haired woman told her, her voice had lost its angry edge and was motherly and gentle. “I asked you a direct question about what you are, and you dear child are many things to many people.”  
“Uh, I don’t want to get in the middle of your apocalypse, I just wanted to complete any paperwork required of me so that I can go after the man who put a hit on my head.” Rehtaeh backed away from the two women. The older woman swept forward, gliding as though on air she disappeared. Her motion completely spooking Rehtaeh, who spun away from her pulling a knife and holding it to the woman’s throat just as she materialized on the other side of her. “Not an inch closer, lady. I don’t know you, and I am not the trusting type.”  
“I am not here to harm you, child. I understand that you have a quest you need to complete, but when you are done you must make a voyage to Quintessa, the realm of Elementals. You are the Source of Life for all of those on our planet, considering it was your contribution that gave birth to our peoples.” Aereon told her, Rehtaeh shook her head. Her file did not say what planet her eggs had gone to. She had searched and there had been no mention of the name of the planet. She waited for Rehtaeh to pull the knife away and put it back in its scabbard. “There is much there that you need to learn. I promise it will be worth your while.”  
“The location was never disclosed, Aereon. Other than a notation in her file that five of her ova were taken, Rehtaeh would have no notion that they are gone, much less that they were used to populate Quintessa when the women started becoming sterile.” Farah Tiller told the other woman.  
“You are wrong, Tiller. I got a raw deal from the beginning. I knew the moment they were taken from me. It was just weeks after being placed into Cryogenics. Before any other testing even began, because, and I quote ‘we need a clean sample, without any side effects from any other studies scheduled to be performed’, I felt the pain as they were taken from me.” Rehtaeh growled at the other woman, shocking them both into silence. “I was awake the entire time. Do you have any Idea what it does to a person’s mind being trapped like that? No? Imagine being trapped in a frozen state, unable to defend yourself from strangers. Imagine feeling the punctures of needles, the placements of tubes, hoses, and nodes. Imagine having your body violated on a daily basis for five hundred years, all the while being aware of every single moment of it. The only reason that I don’t kill every one of my violators is because they are already dead, all from old age, with the exception of two. Dr. May, who actually deserved to live, was killed by a monster on a planet called T2. Now only Remner remains.”  
“Dear Lord!” Tiller exclaimed her face filled with horror. Her already pale skin had blanched white as she sat slumped in her chair. “I had no idea. Rehtaeh, I am so sorry. The horrible things you must have seen and heard. I just-.”  
“Stop apologizing. It’s not like you could have prevented any of it. It was my decision to take the Alliance’s deal.” Rehtaeh stopped her. She didn’t want the woman’s pain, horror, or pity. “From what I read in my file, my body was used to assist the populations of no less than twenty-five different planets, ensuring the survival of the human race in the harshest of environments. The fact that Aereon is here and her presence doesn’t repulse me tells me that at least one of my children survived.”  
“I am sure you have questions Rehtaeh, but-.” Aereon started.  
“Now is not the time for them, and to truly find the answers I must go to Quintessa. I know. Stop your scheming, woman, until I get this hit off of my head there is very little I can do to help you with your Armageddon. Oh, and stop calling me child, I am older than you by over four hundred years,” Rehtaeh dismissed the older woman. Aereon was a player and she had done what she had intended, she had awoken Rehtaeh’s desire to know. Now she needed to get back to the business at hand, “Tiller, what have I to do, to complete my assessments?”  
“You must prove your rehabilitation and your worth to common society.” General Tiller looked up at her; her face was still filled with horror, awe and a small amount of pity. After a long moment she flipped open a screen on her computer, pulling up the screen in front of all of them. The visage of a man popped up on the screen, he was in uniform and sitting behind a massive mahogany colored desk.   
“And how do I accomplish that? With my training, I can pass any test you put before me.” Rehtaeh ignored the man on the screen and looked at General Tiller waiting for her to come up with some sort of plan of action. When the woman continued to look at her with that perplexed look upon her face Rehtaeh became impatient. “I am as rehabilitated as a person in my unique circumstance can be. There is no test you can give me that I have not already passed since I was freed.”   
“Answer some simple questions for me, Rehtaeh. I will need to know your plans for the future. What will be your occupation?” General Tiller asked her, “I know that you have no need for income, but for the sake of your parole file, you do need to have an occupation.”  
“From what I have seen, this is no warrior race, and you do not seem to condone violence even in a public arena so my former occupation will not suffice.” Rehtaeh was thoughtful, giving the question real attention and an honest consideration. This was her chance to actually create her own semblance of a life. “Therefore my occupation will be an artist, I am already a painter. I will have to discover what you people use for pigments in this time frame, but I am an artist regardless. You can put me into the volunteer ranks of the Armed Forces division of New Mecca, if you really insist that I maintain my military status.”  
“Your military files are very impressive. They fall short in only one area.” Tiller looked up at her, she had a spark in her eyes, and a smile lifted her lips. “You do not take orders well. So where would we put you. What division?”  
“Surveillance, most likely, I prefer to work alone.” Rehtaeh responded quickly, this was what her former military commander had been considering her for, “I just want my freedom back, to come and go as I choose. To be able to travel where ever I please without being held up by my past, besides I cannot prepare for the apocalypse if I am tied down by my parole, can I?”  
“You make it sound like this is a simple task you set before me.” The General sat up straighter, glowering up at Rehtaeh, and then shooting a glare at Aereon for bringing up Rehtaeh’s apparent part in some far off destiny. The Man on the screen just watched as though he had little to no part in what was occurring in this office.   
“I would imagine that for you, it is.” Rehtaeh returned her look. “I have confidence that before I leave this room, you can find it within you to find me more than competent and sane, as well as a worthwhile member of society. Now, if you could please clear me for public access and unrestricted travel, I will be on my way.”  
“You plan on killing Remner do you not?” General Tiller asked her, there was worry in her voice. Rehtaeh had to take very good care with her words. Her commanding officer was on the computer screen and Aereon was also in the room. “It would be a personal vendetta would it not?”  
“Oh, this is entirely personal. Remner put the hit on me because he knows that I know his secrets. He told me everything while he was abusing my body. I know where he is hiding and have the best chance at getting close to him undetected. I plan on getting the codes from him, in order to negate the hit in the Merc system. I have not yet devised how I will go about doing this.” Rehtaeh looked at the woman, watching as the red head’s lips slowly lifted in a smile. “I cannot get codes from a dead man, now can I?”  
“You could allow some of our men to go after him.” The woman advised her.   
“No, that would not be prudent. He would know he was being followed because all orders are entered into the Alliance mainframe. With his apparent hacking skills he will be watching for that.”Rehtaeh told her audience. “As long as I remain a private citizen in the eyes of the universe, I stay a minor threat in his eyes. I would not be under orders, and therefore my actions would not be in the system. Let’s just say, me showing up on his doorstep and hauling him into interrogation would be the last thing he would expect from the docile little Voodoo Doll.”  
“General Tiller, all of this is unnecessary. Special Officer Furya’s only condition on release was that she survives the detoxification process, which she obviously has. Please continue with her complete release.” The man from the computer spoke, his voice rang out into the room. Aereon and Tiller seemed to sit more at attention when he spoke; he was obviously a well-respected man. “If Remner has any sense, he will have read your file and know you are anything but docile. I am aware you do not take orders well, but I think this is one you will follow. Special Officer Furya, I order you to find Dr. Remner, extract the codes, using whatever force necessary to do so. Do a complete investigation on the allegations that have been reported on him, collect any and all evidence against him. If the evidence is what we think it will be, the sentence is death, no jury required. Remove the hit on your head, remove the chance of any future threat and clean up the mess. Is this clear?”  
“Yes, Sir.” Rehtaeh responded, saluting in good form to her senior officer. These were things that she had planned to do anyways. It was just nice to have someone give her some back up to go with it.  
“At ease soldier. I will send you the file on Remner. If there is evidence that the allegations are true, I want them cataloged and sent to my attention, cc General Tiller.” The man responded looking at her with a hard look. Then he looked to the other two and nodded at each of them. “Dismissed.”  
The screen went blank and the three women stared at each other for a long moment. Tiller went into the computer and completed her parole, clearing her file from the books. She looked at Rehtaeh, a small smile on her face. “There you have it. You are free Rehtaeh, with orders to kill the man who abused you and put a hit out on your head. If you are successful at this, you may prove to be of future use to the Alliance. Be careful that you do not become too useful.”  
“That’s peachy, just peachy.”Rehtaeh rolled her eyes, and then looked at Tiller. “No offence but I am really not all that interested in a military career of any kind. I just want to get this creep off my back and live freely. Considering that, how would I go about getting my pilot’s license?”  
“You want to learn to pilot?” The General was surprised. Her auburn eyebrows shot upwards and her mouth went agape.  
“I already know how to pilot, I just want the license, General Tiller.” Rehtaeh looked her in the eye holding her gaze.   
“Well then I will escort you to the Licensing Regulation Sector, it is in building two.” Tiller stood and came around her desk.   
“And where would I report the crash of the Hunter Gratzner? There were very few survivors. I will need to make a formal statement.” Rehtaeh asked next. Imam was going to come in later and give a statement of his own. They had decided it best to use Heath as the sixth survivor from the planet; Riddick’s name was not to be brought up unless directly asked about him. If they were asked, he died on that planet as far as they knew.   
Aereon looked at Rehtaeh, and she looked back at the older woman, they regarded each other for a long moment. Rehtaeh could see the woman calculating behind her wise eyes, she reminded Rehtaeh of her mother. She stepped in front of the Elemental blocking her exit from the office. “You have my word that I will visit your realm, Ambassador. If for no other reason than to feed my curiosity, but not until I have taken care of my other duties.”   
“That is all I ask.” Aereon told her, meeting her eyes. “Until we meet again, Ms. Furya.”  
Tiller escorted Rehtaeh to the Alliance Planetary Monitoring sector to report the crash and the status of the planet with the three suns. She also reported the strange activity happening on the Kublai Khan, and the attempted murder of children by the captain and her first in command. She arranged a meeting for Carolyn and Heath for when they arrived to have their identification and permits replaced. It was nearing mid afternoon by the time they reached building two, she knew Riddick was there, he had promised he would show if she was any later than two, it was now after three. She knew she would be a while more in order to apply for and receive her pilot’s license. She would have to prove her knowledge in written, oral and simulated examinations since it was against every protocol to just hand out a license. It was no problem, it was just time consuming and she just wanted to be home where it was safe. She completed the tests, passing each one with perfect scores thanks to Riddick. She walked out of the building with another card to add to her growing collection.  
Tiller was escorting Rehtaeh, sticking to the shadows so that Rehtaeh could more effectively use her hooded cloak to hide from any attackers. They were making their way through the public grounds back to Rehtaeh’s hover bike when it happened. She heard the retort of a gun, two shots in quick succession. To Rehtaeh’s trained ear it sounded like a high caliber weapon. A sniper rifle? She and Tiller both dropped to the ground as the crowd of people rushed around even faster, trying to get to the safety of a building. Rehtaeh looked up at the roof tops but saw nothing, where had the gunfire come from?   
Tiller called a command into her device that was on her wrist as she and Rehtaeh slunk forward in the shadows. “We have gunfire in the plaza, I want it investigated, now. I want people on the damn roof. Do it now.”  
“You should have people watching for the next few days Tiller. There will be more attempts, keep the security high around the plaza.” Rehtaeh told Tiller softly.   
She looked around the buildings looking for something anything that indicated where the shots had come from but there was nothing. The crowd was moving quickly and she could hear someone cursing out a kid that was creating havoc. Rehtaeh’s stomach twisted, she knew one kid who could cause that much trouble. Sure enough she heard Jack’s voice far off to the left, near the massive water fountain. She was calling her name. Damn kid was making herself and any blonde woman around her a walking target.   
“Hey! Watch it asshole!” A man yelled angrily, there was a wave of disgruntled sound that came from deeper in the crowd. More people cried out as a large commotion erupted in the middle of the crowd, there was pushing and shoving and people running to get out of the way.  
Rehtaeh spun and ran towards the sound. She saw Jack running through the crowd; running towards a woman with long blonde hair. She reached them as Jack pushed woman to the ground. Rehtaeh heard the woman scream in surprise and then Jack’s voice yelled out, “No! Rehtaeh! Stay down!” the girl covering the woman’s body with her own, just as a man struck out with his knife slicing Jack up her right side from elbow to below her rib cage. There was blood everywhere and Rehtaeh didn’t even think as she pulled both of the knives that she had on her belt.   
“You went after the wrong woman, asshole.” She growled at the man, watching him turn in surprise as her knives slashed out and severed his head from his body. His head rolled away and his body fell to the side, gore pumping out of his body as the nerves slowly realized that there was no longer a connection to the brain. She ignored the gore, and the screams of shock from the bystanders, Tiller finally caught up to them with a platoon of guards as they pushed the crowd back.   
She was kneeling above Jack when the guards hauled her unceremoniously away from the girl and pinned her to the ground. Rehtaeh struggled hard, she needed to get to Jack. The kid was dying and not a single person had moved to help her. Tiller started yelling out commands, “Let her up, Private! She is one of ours!”  
“But she-,” The man started to protest. Rehtaeh pushed him off and glared up at him before pushing herself towards Jack, who was bleeding out on the ground.  
“She killed a hit man who was after a blonde woman. Have you not been reading your daily reports soldier?” Tiller was yelling at the man, her voice carried over the entire square as she issued orders and got people to safety.  
Rehtaeh’s only concern was for Jack who was bleeding out in the middle of the square. She lifted the girl off of the screaming blonde woman. Picked her bleeding body up as though she were a rag doll and made to carry her to the nearest clinic. “Jack, I am here, I am going to get you help.”  
“Rehtaeh? You are okay? The man he was going after-,” Jack started, looking down in confusion at the woman still sitting on the ground with two guards by her side.   
“Not me. Jack. Not me.” Rehtaeh looked down at the girl. “What were you doing here? Why did you come down here?”  
“You left so early and were gone-,” The girl was in shock. She was losing a lot of blood. She passed out in Rehtaeh’s arms. Rehtaeh could see into her body past the muscles to the bones of her ribs and her arm. The wounds were horribly deep. There would be nerve damage, and the longer she waited to get her to a doctor the worse it would be for Jack in the long run.  
“Tiller, I need a medic!” Rehtaeh called out. “I need a medic now!”


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30  
Riddick  
Too much time had passed. Jack had been pestering him several times earlier that morning to go after Rehtaeh, but he knew that there was a lot that she needed to do in town. He had given her the time line of two o’clock and that had passed. He was headed into town.   
“Imam, keep an eye on Jack, I am going into town to check on Rehtaeh.” Riddick told the holy man who was in the middle of his afternoon prayers.   
“Jack left an hour ago, Riddick. She said she told you were she was going.” Imam said in surprise. Riddick looked at the man and then growled.   
He stalked out of the house and to the Quonset, hauling out the second hover-bike. Jack must have walked into town. There was no other possible mode of transportation that she could have taken. This bike would have been too heavy for a kid her size.  
It took him no time at all to make his way to city center, near the Military Compound where Rehtaeh would be. He looked around at the adobe and brown clay houses that lined the streets as he passed and he realized exactly how different Rehtaeh’s house would seem to these people. Hers was white with columns, black roof and shutters. It looked completely different from these places with their clay tiles and their dark russet stucco and wrought iron balconies. He was amused in a way, Rehtaeh was so completely different from these people and it showed in every way. There was no way she would ever be part of a crowd.  
He made his way to a fire escape and climbed his way to the roof. He worked his way over the buildings, keeping his bearings so he would be able to find the bike again later. The best place for him to see would be by going up. Bird’s eye view. Then he would be able to see if Rehtaeh or Jack got into any trouble. He would also be able to see if there were any snipers hanging out on the roof tops. He was nearing the main military complex, in fact he was overlooking the main plaza. He could clearly see the three public buildings standing on three sides of the square, the water fountain dead center. There were hundreds of people milling about.   
He quickly scoped out three blondes and systematically weeded them out. Their hair was either too dark, too curly, or too short. Knowing Rehtaeh, her hair would be in a braid, so it would fit under her helmet and be kept back from her face. Besides all three of the woman he saw, were wearing bright garish colors. None of them wore a combination of red and black.  
He scanned the crowd again and he spied her. She was walking with the red head; they were staying in the shadows her hood pulled up over her bright silver blonde hair. She seemed to wear the shadows around her, almost blending into the cool darkness. He swept his eyes over the roof tops looking for any threats of any kind. He saw a flash of light to his left two buildings over on his side of the street. He ran in the direction of the light, trying to stay down and stay as quiet as possible. Lucky for him, the buildings on this side were positioned close together. He would be able to jump. He reached the third building and quietly rounded the external air feed.   
The sniper had been sitting there for hours by the stench of sweat and piss that clung to him. He was covered in a thin blanket of sorrel red that matched the roof and walls of the building. Unless someone was specifically watching for him, there was no way anyone would even see him.   
“Come on girlie, where are you?” the man said to himself looking through the scope. “Fucking grainy picture, can barely tell what she looks like, if Remner doesn’t pay up this time I am going to take his head.”   
That was all the confirmation Riddick needed. The man was a hit man, and from the sounds of it, he had worked for Remner before. He crept up slow, measuring his steps with the sounds of the noise in the square below. The man was so focused on what was going on below that he didn’t even think to check behind him. He closed in quietly, making his way around a communications tower that was just behind the sniper. The tread of his boot scraped across the top of a bolt and he froze, inwardly cursing at himself he looked sharply at the gun man. He didn’t move, didn’t turn around at all. In fact the man pulled himself closer to the edge, sliding on his belly for a better view. Riddick looked where the man was looking and he saw Rehtaeh and Tiller quickly turning a corner to go into a building. Both women were in perfect position if the man took his shot it would be a clean hit. He took his chance then and sliced the hit-man’s throat quickly and quietly. The man hadn’t even had a chance.   
He moved away from the stench of the body so he could get a better view of the building. Rehtaeh and Tiller were smart, they wouldn’t come out the same door they went in, they would be coming out a different entrance. So they would be harder to track. He glanced across the plaza again, keeping an eye out for any other potential threats. He found Jack standing like a turkey with her neck out on top of the round beveled edge of the fountain pool. She was looking around for any sign of Rehtaeh, waving at anyone who looked similar to her from a distance. Damn kid was gonna get Rehtaeh killed by doing that shit. He was about to head back to the ground when he saw something poke out of a window a story below him. He looked closer and saw the barrel of a rifle.   
Damn snipers. The gun was trained on Jack, who kept waving at blondes with long hair as they passed by. He even heard her call out Rehtaeh once, before she thought better of it. The kid must have realized that she was making Rehtaeh a target by drawing attention to herself because she jumped back down from the fountain. Then the silly kid started pushing her way through the crowd, pushing past people, making a public nuisance of herself as she approached and walked past blonde after blonde. Riddick shook his head. As long as Rehtaeh stayed inside that building she would be safe. He needed to go below and find out who was holding that damn rifle.   
He made his way back towards the air feed looking for any possible door that led into the building below, or some sort of fire escape. There was nothing. The building back the way he came had a roof top garden and an access door going into the building. Riddick ran back and jumped from roof to roof. Landing hard, he stumbled and rolled before jumping back to his feet and running to the door. It was locked from the inside and the door opened out. He wouldn’t be able to kick it in. He needed to either pick the lock or find a way to punch the handle through.   
Lucky for him, he had picked up the skill of picking locks when he was in his youth. It was one of the skills he had used to keep himself alive and fed. He pulled out the double pins he always kept in his wristbands and set to work. It took him just over thirty seconds. He cursed at himself. He was losing his touch.   
He ran down the stairs and went out a back door, if the sniper was facing the front of the building, he didn’t want to alert them to his presence. Hopefully there would be a back door to that building where he could get in. He was in luck a young kid was pushing through the auto-lock back entrance of the building and he was able to snag the door before it sealed shut. The sniper was in the last room on the top floor, so that was where Riddick was headed too. This was a residential building, but it was fairly high end. There was a little foyer on the main floor where people could gather. There was a pool on the southern end of the building and an indoor tennis court to the north. From what he could tell the majority of the people were young couples, there were the odd families with young kids, and more than a few old biddies talking to their neighbors in the hallways. No one stopped him, hell almost no one even looked in his direction.   
He went straight for the staircase and took the steps two or three at a time, moving as quickly as he could go. If he was correct the building Rehtaeh was in housed the licensing department. The woman had told him that she was going to get her license, he had argued that she was wasting her time and her breath, she would have to take months worth of lessons before she would be allowed to even apply for the full license. He had not believed that she was going to through with it. On the plus side, it would give him time, they would at the very least want to test her skill levels. He reached the top floor just barely feeling out of breath. He took a second to calm himself before making his way towards the last room on the top floor. This floor seemed almost unoccupied compared to the rest of the building, from what he could hear there were only a few people home in their apartments and most of them were entertaining themselves in one way or another.   
Finally he was at the last door. He checked for noise traps, and found a bucket full of rocks propped on the top of the door, just waiting for some unsuspecting fool to open the door. He looked for more along the way and found a trigger wire in the entrance to the far room. He stepped over silently and carried on. He was not expecting the bird to come careening out of nowhere. Squawking and cawing as though someone had it by the tail. It was attacking his face and neck, Riddick reached out and grabbed it by the feet and neck. It was nothing to snap its neck, even though Riddick hated killing animals needlessly, he would not hesitate if it meant his life.   
“You killed my bird.” A woman dressed in all black accused him as she pulled herself up quickly from her place at the farthest window. She turned her gun on him and he dived to safety behind the couch. She fired two shots before stopping to reload. He used that moment to jump her. She was ready though, the butt end of the gun came up and she hit him heavily on the cheek. She pulled back to hit him again but he grabbed the gun and pulled it away from her. He hit her hard on her jaw and she stumbled back, her recovery was quick as she threw a high back kick and hit him in the jaw. He grunted in pain as he shook off the blow.   
She was crouched low, hands up, she sneered at him, “If I don’t collect his hit because of you, hot stuff, I’m gonna make you die twice.”  
“I don’t think so lady. Sexy as you are, you mean nothing to me. I will end you.” Riddick growled back at the woman.   
She was hot now that he got a decent look at her. She was tall and lanky, her breast were perky, just a little less than a handful. Her black hair was cropped short and styled in a spiky fashion. She had dark chocolate colored skin, her complexion seemed perfectly flawless. She had hot dark eyes that flashed in the darkness. It was dark in the room, so he pulled up his goggles. The moment she saw his bared eyes she began to panic. He could smell it on her. The woman launched herself at him, hitting, kicking and punching; throwing elbows and knees at his kidneys and groin. He held her off for a several minutes she was getting in some pretty decent hits too but she was a killer and was there to take out Rehtaeh. There was no way he was going to allow that to happen.   
He kicked her hard in the knee and she dropped heavily onto a glass table. Her hands went through the glass and she shrieked in pain. He kicked her again in the head and she fell forward onto the wooden frame slicing open her own neck. He walked back out, silently and carefully, making sure not to draw any attention to himself or where he had come from. Damn he would definitely have some bruises before the day was over. He pulled his goggles back over his eyes and walked out of the building. He could either go back up or stay in the crowd. He preferred back up, there would be better vantage points up high, and considering the odds of two snipers, what were the odds of three. He wasn’t too concerned about a ground attack. Rehtaeh could sense people around her and would feel someone coming at her. He was confident she could take care of herself on the ground. It was the elevated hits that he was concerned about.  
He found a perch on a third floor balcony that overlooked the plaza, and made it look like he was just relaxing enjoying the day. Watching the crowds and looking at the sky. Another hour passed before he saw Rehtaeh and her General leave through a side door of the building. They were headed towards the third building where she had initially met her contact that morning. Again they stuck to the shadows, blending in and staying out of the crush of the busy crowd. Then there was a commotion near the fountain. A blonde woman in a pink shirt rushed past Jack, Jack called out to Rehtaeh and someone standing near Jack followed the pair.   
Jack reached for the woman and was pushed roughly out of the way by the surge of people around them. The blonde seemed to sense trouble brewing, she shrieked and started to run through the crowd. Jack was hot on her tail and the man followed. The woman tripped and Jack threw herself over the woman, still calling Rehtaeh’s name. Damn kid didn’t realize that Rehtaeh would never wear pink. It would always be red, gray or black. The man lashed out with his blade. He saw the stripe form as the fabric of her shirt was sliced open as well as her body tissues. He could see right inside of the kid, past flesh, muscle, bone and fatty tissues. He could see her liver and kidney. The kid needed help or she would never make it.   
Rehtaeh was there, he watched her whirl towards the killer, whip out both knives from the duty belt she wore at her hips. She rounded on the man and raised her weapons. In a flash the metal crossed, blood and gore spewed forth and the man’s head fell to the ground. The milling crowd screamed and fled in every direction as Rehtaeh was hauled to the ground by one of the guards.  
He heard Tiller order the guard to release her and the man started to protest. Then the General started yelling orders, Rehtaeh got to Jack and within moments had the girl curled into her arms.   
Rehtaeh looked at the redheaded General and yelled, “Tiller, I need a medic! I need a Medic now!”


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31  
Rehtaeh  
“This way!” The General called to her, and Rehtaeh followed allowing the soldiers around them take over the scene. They ran through the gaps in the crowd as Tiller led her into one of the buildings. There was a large clinic on the main floor, it smelled of antiseptics and cleansers. The smell of it made Rehtaeh reel in disgust and she immediately wanted to flee from it. It reminded her too much of her captivity.   
The doctors took one look at Jack and took her into surgery. Rehtaeh followed but stayed out of the way and in the shadows where she would not be seen. There was a loud discussion on the fact that there was no blood available in her type; neither manufactured nor natural. Rehtaeh called to them, “Use mine, I am a universal donor!”  
One of the doctors spun around looking at her in surprise. He was about to eject her from the room when Tiller stepped into the surgical suite and stopped him. “She is a universal donor; her blood can save the girl.”  
Rehtaeh looked up at Tiller who was still in the suite with them as the Doctors did their work. “Thank you, Tiller. Can you send a message to my house? I have friends there who will be worried about us. They need to know what happened.”  
Tiller nodded and went off to ensure that a message was conveyed to her friends. When she came back she advised Rehtaeh that Imam would come by in the morning when the clinic was open to the public. Then the woman left the hospital to be with her own family.   
Rehtaeh was taken to a separate curtained area and prepped immediately; a needle stuck into her vein a tube was hooked to the needle and the other end into a filter machine. Within moments the panels came back ensuring them that her blood was clear of infections and any detrimental chemicals. The machine worked at her blood before filling up the donation bags ensuring that it was properly cleaned before it went into the girl. There were no issues, and the bags were rushed out for use on the girl in the surgical suite next door. They took a lot of Rehtaeh’s blood and when they finally stopped the transfusion they advised her to stay lying down for a while, gave her sweets to munch on and juice to drink. She felt so completely light headed and nauseas that she didn’t protest at all, instead she dropped into and out of consciousness as she waited for Jack to be done in surgery.   
Hours passed, it was growing dark outside, she paced the waiting room as she waited for the doctors to be done. After everything they’d been through, it didn’t seem right that the kid die now. No Jack had to live, or she would never forgive herself. She would never forgive Remner. The nurses came and had her fill out forms for Jack’s care, but she didn’t know any of Jack’s medical history. She explained to the nurse about the ship crash and how Jack’s parents were not among the survivors. While the nurse seemed understanding, Rehtaeh could tell that she still felt that the forms could be filled out more. She gave the nurse her UD card, to provide payment and proclaimed herself as Jack’s guardian, at least until Carolyn arrived. Rehtaeh was sure the other woman would want to keep Jack with her. They did seem to have some bond with each other.  
When they moved Jack to recovery, Rehtaeh followed, no one stopped her from staying with the teen. When they finally moved her to a private room and Rehtaeh followed them again, they didn’t say a word. They went so far as to provide her with a chair and cot so she could sleep in the room. Jack had taken so much of Rehtaeh’s blood that the girl no longer felt cold in her presence, she was warm to Rehtaeh now. Rehtaeh pulled up the chair by her bed and pulled Jack’s hand in to her own. Sometime in the middle of the night she felt his presence in the room. There was a Doctor and a nurse checking on Jack so she didn’t say anything, not wanting to alert anyone to his presence.  
“The man who did this is dead, I made sure of it.” Rehtaeh whispered as though talking to the girl in the bed. She resumed her silent vigil until the Doctor and nurse left to do their rounds.   
“I know I saw, I was taking care of a couple of snipers. I couldn’t get to you in time.” Riddick’s protective growl from the shadows made her toes curl.  
She looked at Jack, ran her free hand over her face gently, wiping away a smudge of dirt. The rage built inside of her as she looked at the helpless girl. Until Remner was taken care of none of them would ever be free. “I am going to destroy Remner for this. If it was not for him there would have been no attack today. I am going to enjoy pulling him apart piece by bloody piece.”  
She kissed the girls hand and gently placed it back on the bed beside her. Then she stood and joined Riddick in the shadows. He hauled her against him growling into her ear. “I warned her not to go. She went anyways, when my back was turned. Seems she has taken a shine to you.”  
“What are we gonna do with her, Riddick?” Rehtaeh whispered worriedly. “I thought maybe Carolyn could watch out for her but she is too willful. You know the moment you leave, she is gonna go looking for you. Maybe I should take her with me after Remner. At least that way I will know where she is.”  
“She should stay in New Mecca and recover where it is safe. Heath is military, he can help you and Carolyn is a pilot, an extra pilot is always a good thing. Let the holy man keep Jack safe here, while we do the same from a distance.” Riddick told her. It made sense what he was saying, for a normal twelve year old. But this was Jack; mischievous, impetuous, cunning, impossible Jack. She would try to come after them, try to find them. She was about to protest when Riddick kissed her into silence. She melted against him, all of her logical thoughts going out the window. “She nearly got you killed today, running around the square calling your name. She will only cause trouble if you take her.”  
“But she can be trained, I feel it.” Rehtaeh whispered as she held herself against him.  
“You, me, Heath, we’re a different breed, we have a natural instinct, it keeps us safe. Even Carolyn to a degree, Jack doesn’t have that. Even if she could leave tomorrow she is too green. That will get you killed. Yeah she can be trained, just not in the heat of a battle, since the crash she has been runnin’ her mouth around gettin’ into trouble. Wait ‘til you return.” Riddick told her, his voice was a command. He was right. She knew he was right. He held her against him, her head rested on his chest over his heart and she could heat the steady rhythm. It helped her relax and calm down. He purred and his chest rumbled, tickling the inside of her ear. She giggled and clutched him closer to her.   
He stayed until just before dawn, he stayed just long enough to say good morning to Jack when she woke. Then he disappeared with the shadows, a military base hospital was not the safest place for him to be found. Rehtaeh had resumed her vigil of the girl from the chair by the bed. She didn’t talk to Jack, she just held her hand as the nurses came in to check on her, giving her medication to dull the pain from her wound. The doctor came in to check on Jack and to ensure that the healing meds had started to kick in. He advised Rehtaeh that she would need to stay in the hospital for two more days under strict observation. The medication that they had given her would help her reconstruct much of her nerve damage, but it would be a painful process and she needed to be watched in case of side effects. He told her that because of the severity of the wound there would be scarring, that didn’t concern Rehtaeh. Knowing Jack she would revel in the idea of having a battle scar.  
Over all the hospital staff was happy with the results of the surgery and Jack’s response and recovery time. Rehtaeh knew that her recovery time had to do with her blood. Even with the remarkable healing rate that her blood initially provided it would quickly wear off as her own blood was regenerated. Even with her blood and the healing medications two or three weeks would pass before Jack was up and walking around. Even if it had still been an option, Rehtaeh couldn’t wait three weeks for Jack to be healed enough to take her to Aguerra Prime. She needed to take care of Remner and quickly.   
“Jack, I know you were just trying to keep me safe, but you should not have followed me. I was safe in the company of Military personnel with an arsenal of my own, and the ability to feel people around me.” Rehtaeh admonished the girl gently, shaking her head sadly.   
“I just wanted to help; there is someone out there after you.” Jack told her, her defenses starting to rise.   
“Where did you hear that, Jack?” Rehtaeh looked at the girl. They had waited for the kids to go to bed before telling Imam about the hit on her and the Merc that was after them. Jack would have had to be eavesdropping for her to find that out.  
“I overheard Riddick talkin’ to Imam on the ship.” Jack confessed sheepishly. She knew she was in trouble.  
“First of all I have already given you shit about eavesdropping. Stop doing it, I mean it Jack; you only get half the story. Second of all, I have been trained to deal with situations exactly like this one. I am fully capable of taking care of myself and can blend in better alone than with others.” Rehtaeh told her gently, trying to get the girl to understand why her actions were inappropriate. “I came alone because I didn’t want to alert my enemies that I have people they can use against me. Now you have advertised to the world that I have family in New Mecca. They are going to use you to get to me.”  
“I am sorry, it was stupid. Riddick told me not to go. I was worried when you took so long.” She tried to sit up and was shocked back into laying down when the pain hit her.   
“Riddick knew that my business would take most of the day. What you did was reckless. When dealing with situations like this, impatience can get you killed.” Rehtaeh told her softly. A frown creased her forehead as a headache started behind her eyes. This girl was going to be the death of her. “I am going to Aguerra Prime to take care of the man who wants me dead. I was thinking of taking you with me, I can’t now, because of this fiasco. Even if you were perfectly healthy I wouldn’t in my right mind let you come with me. You drew the attention of the killer right to that girl. She could have been killed, hell you nearly were killed.”  
“I’m sorry Rehtaeh, it won’t happen again. I promise! Please take me with you!” Jack pleaded with her. Rehtaeh looked the girl in the eye, there was honesty there. This girl was trainable. She had something in her that Rehtaeh respected. She had a fighting spirit and a desire to please. Yet she was not trustworthy, went off half cocked. She just didn’t listen to reason. Rehtaeh may not have the best history of following orders, but she did when they were sound, when her instinct said they were right. Jack seemed to lack that.   
“Not going to happen, Jack! I need to leave in days and you won’t be up and about for weeks, the longer I wait the more dangerous this whole situation becomes.” Rehtaeh said sharply. She had to give the girl the truth, she had to get her to understand the consequences of her actions. “The stunt you pulled yesterday, the seriousness of your injuries, taking you with me would get you killed. I will not risk your life.”  
The nurse came in then with food for Jack. The conversation was ended, and Rehtaeh went in search of food for herself. She headed down to the main campus cafeteria and met up with Tiller and a couple of guards. During their investigation the day before they found the bodies of two snipers. One was found on the top of a building, still sitting in his own bodily fluids with his throat slashed. The other was a much feared hit woman identified as the Raven, she was found in an apartment, her gun had been discharged. She had met her end by falling into a glass coffee table. Rehtaeh knew better, she knew that Riddick had been on the roof tops the day before. Watching out for snipers. Overnight there had been two more attempted hits on women coming and going from the plaza. Luckily Tiller had her own snipers in place and the women were not harmed.   
Rehtaeh told Tiller that she would inform her when they had an action plan in place to go after Remner. She would be talking to her friends over the next few days to figure out a plan and would let her know when they were leaving. They would try to come up with some sort of distraction that would pull the hit men away from New Mecca. She wandered through the halls of the large clinic, making lists in her head trying to straighten out her thoughts. Imam was in the room with Jack when she arrived, his face was angry as a storm cloud as she told him the report from the Doctors that morning. He took over everything, basically ordering Rehtaeh out of the room. He seemed to have effectively shut Rehtaeh out. She wondered why he would suddenly act so cold towards her.   
Pulling him out of the room she asked him, “What’s the deal Imam, why are you acting like this is my fault?”  
“Because it is! You told her that you wanted her to go with you after Remner?” Imam glared at her. Rehtaeh raised an eyebrow, waiting for the rest of the story. “She won’t be able to walk for weeks and you want her on some mission!”  
“Is that what she told you? Perhaps you should stop getting your second hand information from a twelve year old.” Rehtaeh growled softly, she pulled off her glasses so she could look the holy man in the eyes. “I told her that I was thinking of taking her, before all of this happened! I was worried that she would rabbit, or runaway as soon as Riddick left. I thought that taking her with me would have kept her from following him. If anything she could learn to pilot, or meditate, you know, learn control. There is no way I would even consider taking her now! I am not stupid enough to risk her life! She is angry because I told her that after what she pulled yesterday there was no way I was taking her with me.”  
“So now she’s a liar?” Imam looked at her scornfully.  
“I am saying that she is trying to manipulate you, Imam. She nearly got a woman killed yesterday, she may as well have painted the woman with a big fat ‘X’, when she should have listened to Riddick and stayed home.” Rehtaeh snapped back. “If she can’t even listen to a man she idolizes what makes you think she is going to listen to anyone else. Jack does only what Jack wants to do.”  
“So you are blaming her for what happened yesterday?” Imam glared at her. She returned the look coldly.  
“Would you like to see the investigative report Imam? What she did was reckless, it nearly killed her.” Rehtaeh retorted angrily, she was seething. “She was in the middle of the square calling my name, following blonde women around looking for me. A hit man was following her around waiting for her to positively identify his target. She is like a bull chasing a red flag in a china shop! And this was after Riddick told her to stay home.”  
“That doesn’t make it her fault.” Imam told her, his voice was rising.  
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t make it mine either!” Rehtaeh told him harshly before she turned and walked away, “Direct your blame at Remner where it belongs, Imam. I didn’t put the hit on my own head. I just want to get it taken off.”


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32  
Riddick  
Rehtaeh returned from the clinic in a foul mood, going straight to the bathroom to have a shower, Imam arrived an hour later just as miserable as Rehtaeh had been. Then the two spent the remainder of the day avoiding each other. Riddick wondered what the hell happened between them that would make them so cross with each other. Heath and Carolyn arrived later that evening, creating chaos with the news that Toombs was on their trail again. Apparently the Merc bought a ship at the transport station and was two weeks behind them. He was still following both Riddick and Rehtaeh, spreading a rumor over the Merc feeds that Riddick had taken on a partner in crime.   
“This is what you get for making up lies, Riddick.” Rehtaeh rolled her eyes and hit him in the shoulder. She was sitting on the large couch between him and Heath. Carolyn was on a massive lounge chair curled up in a thick blanket glaring at Rehtaeh and her proximity to the big Furyan. Imam sat alone on the love seat. They were all sitting in the living room in front of the unlit fireplace, with the exception of Suleiman, who had taken up residence in the home theater. The boy was completely absorbed by Rehtaeh’s collection of classic movies. Jack was staying in the hospital, sulking and angry with the world. “Now you’re saddled with a wife.”  
“I just hope that this story doesn’t create trouble for you later, after I leave.” Riddick growled as he pulled her into his lap, nuzzling her neck. He grabbed her hands so she couldn’t hit him again and as she leaned against him he heard the soft purr that left her throat as she relaxed. The turmoil of the day before had been a reality check that neither of them really wanted to receive. Two snipers and a knife man had already tried to take her out and two more attempts at the plaza overnight. He was seeing red. Something in him made him hold her to his side and he was nearly overwhelmed by the urge to never let her leave. Seeing her in the hospital the night before had bothered him in ways he didn’t understand. She had been deathly pale, and Jack smelled more like Rehtaeh than Rehtaeh did. It wasn’t until much later that he found out that Rehtaeh donated her blood to the girl.   
“Well whether he comes to New Mecca for us or not, he won’t find us here. Once you are off I am going after Remner.” Rehtaeh told the group, she had told him about the orders she had been given. He had agreed that it was best that the others knew what was coming. “I got official orders yesterday to find and investigate the allegations against him. Once I have the pass-codes I have been instructed to ensure that he is unable to commit further crime.”   
“You mean take him to prison or-?” Carolyn asked with a grain of surprise. The pilot had relaxed the moment he had pulled Rehtaeh onto his lap. Since their arrival Heath and Carolyn had been at odds with each other. Both hot and cold. Riddick had noticed Furya’s protectiveness over the pilot from the moment they landed, as well as the determined look that was in his eye. Heath wanted the pilot with the short blonde hair. Carolyn was fighting herself, being aroused by the man as well as angry, frustrated and aggravated by him. She was jealous of the obvious relationship between Heath and Rehtaeh from the moment they had arrived. Heath gave Rehtaeh a huge swinging bear hug upon seeing his aunt, Carolyn was still ignorant to their familial connection, was sure something was going on between the two. Carolyn thought Rehtaeh was her competition.   
“Option two, I am to ensure that there is no mess left behind.” Rehtaeh told them softly. Imam looked at her in shock, his face pleading with her not to do it. “The Alliance knows that Remner is guilty of kidnapping young girls. According to the file I received, there have been leads pointing in his direction for years, but no usable evidence. Being that he was considered an upstanding Alliance employee for years, they just want the mess to go away.”  
“You cannot really be considering this, Rehtaeh.” Imam looked at her with shock. The man was a pacifist. He abhorred violence of any kind, but it was violence that had saved him and Suleiman on the Merc ship. The man should stop complaining.  
“I will follow my orders, Imam. This man is a monster. I will not allow someone like him continue to torment innocent girls.” He felt Rehtaeh still as her scent grew spicier with anger and hatred. She looked at the holy man with all the coldness she felt towards Remner. “I am trained military personnel, Imam, not some soft little housewife. If you have an issue with my occupation, you can take it up with the Alliance.”  
“You cannot know that he is guilty.” Imam protested vehemently, he was outright glaring at Rehtaeh. “You said yourself that the Alliance could find no evidence.”  
“The Alliance couldn’t, but I can. Remner put the hit on me because he told me where he keeps the girls. I can bring in all the evidence the Alliance needs. He confided everything to me while I was in cryo.” Rehtaeh told him. Riddick was surprised, she had not shared this information with him. He didn’t know that Rehtaeh had information on Remner that would put him in danger. It made the whole situation even worse. The man would be desperate.   
“Wait, Remner was your kidnapper?” Imam asked incredulous. He was still under the impression that she was the kidnapped dignitary’s daughter.  
“Unfortunately, yes, and I wasn’t his only victim.” Rehtaeh told him, defiance flashing in her eyes. “Remner is one sick and depraved fuck. He has kidnapped and killed countless girls.”  
“After Carolyn and I report in to the Alliance and I get my paperwork cleared up, I will go with you Rehtaeh. I read the files on Remner that you brought home. I don’t want you going after him alone. The man is completely insane.” Heath looked at Rehtaeh, who nodded accepting his assistance. Carolyn tensed and damn near growled in protest. Rehtaeh turned to look at the other woman, her defensive instincts kicked in as she sensed Carolyn’s anger. She tried to rise, until he growled lowly against her ear holding her still, then she settled. “You are family, Rehtaeh. Family sticks together.”  
“Wait, you are related to Rehtaeh?” Carolyn looked at Heath in surprise. Her blonde eyebrows shot up into her eyebrows, her face was comical. Riddick smirked at her and glanced down at Rehtaeh, a chuckle escaped her as she realized that Carolyn was jealous. He caught the feral grin that flashed across her face as she relaxed back against him.  
“Due to extremely odd circumstances, Heath is my nephew. Don’t tell me Heath here forgot to mention that little detail?” Rehtaeh chuckled as she kicked Heath in the thigh with her heel. “You are as bad as Riddick.”  
“I want you to take Carolyn and Heath on that mission. You know as well as I do that you could use their help. Imam will take care of Jack until you get back.” Riddick told her, stopping the protest he felt brewing in her. He had stated it like an order, she would listen.   
“Riddick told me that you received guardianship over Jack, is this true Rehtaeh?” Carolyn asked softly.   
“I basically have a loose agreement with the Alliance to provide for her care, until a proper guardian can be found. I was considering taking her with me, but after this stunt she pulled I am less inclined to do so.” He was sure that Rehtaeh was going to exert her protectiveness over Jack’s welfare, but she remained relaxed. “I was hoping that Imam could watch her in our absence and then you could apply for actual guardianship. I mean I know I can help her to focus her energy and train her to take care of herself, but I am not ready to be a parent. She likes you better than me anyways.”  
“I will put in an application when we go into town. I worry about her, she just seems so wild.” Carolyn sighed softly as a deep frown marred her face.  
“She is. She has a history of running away. So as soon as things seem too hard for her, or if something goes wrong, she is going to rabbit. So watch out for her.” Rehtaeh said to Carolyn, Riddick wondered for a moment if she was directing the advice at Imam as well as the pilot. Rehtaeh ran away at that age, if anyone knew the signs it would be her.  
“How would you know this, Rehtaeh?” Imam shot her a dark look. Riddick wondered why Imam had taken such a dislike to Rehtaeh. It was a surprising reaction considering everyone else seemed to think she needed to be protected. She had done a lot to help the man out.  
“She’s twelve. She has just gone through hell. Her hormones are all over the map. She is trying to become a woman and still remain a child. She is going to push every boundary you draw. ” Rehtaeh rolled her eyes at Imam and looked over at Carolyn. Riddick caught a look of understanding pass between them. “The next two years will be her hardest. They always are for a girl. You remember those days Carolyn? When the world seemed to be against you, every time “Aunt Flow” rolled into town?”  
“Don’t remind me, those years were hell and then some.” Carolyn smiled as she picked up the slang for the time of the month. Riddick didn’t need to be told; Rehtaeh used the same expression the week before when her monthly arrived. The rest however was news to him. Apparently this was a woman’s rite of passage, some hell that occurred unknown to the men of the human race. Riddick quirked his eyebrow at Heath who just shrugged in response.  
“Don’t look at me, man. I only had brothers.” Heath looked as confused as Riddick felt.  
They spent the next few hours going over Remner’s file. The accusations against him were damning. When Rehtaeh started telling them the things that the man had told her, they were all shocked into silence. The leads that ended up in dead ends and complete lack of dead bodies and the lack of solid evidence to go for a conviction were making the Alliance very wary. They wanted the mess cleaned up and as quietly as possible.   
Imam finally agreed to look after Jack until Carolyn came back for her, but he pleaded with Rehtaeh to take Remner in for the courts to deal with. In the end Rehtaeh just looked at Imam and told him that she would see how forgiving she was when she saw him.   
When he finally got Rehtaeh into her bed, he did his best to ensure that she was not thinking of anything except for him. Teasing her, playing rough with her, she kept promising that she would find a way to tie him down and repay the favor. He ignored her threats and continued to torment her until she screamed for him. After a few hours sleep he woke to find that she had done exactly as she promised. He was tied to the bed with silk scarves. Both of them were fully aware that he could shred the delicate fabric easily, which was why she used it. It was like she was testing him to see if he could withstand her brand of domination. He hated being in a submissive state, but somehow with her she made dominance a tool with which she used to bring him extreme pleasure. She teased him and worked him into a frenzy before riding him out to both of their climactic ends. When she released him, she licked kissed and bit every place where her silk scarves had been, by the time she was done releasing him they were both aroused once again. He had her pressed into the bed underneath him so fast that she could barely contain the shriek of surprise before it turned to moans of submission and pleas for release.   
When they woke the following morning they found out that there was another attempt on a blonde woman seen exiting a hotel in the inner city, unfortunately this attempt was successful. The news unfortunately increased the already high tension between Imam and Rehtaeh. It was as though the holy man blamed Rehtaeh for the attacks. It was irrational thinking as far as Riddick was concerned. He blamed her for the attacks and yet he was against her going after the man who had taken the hit out on her. Imam said he felt that Rehtaeh’s reliance on violence was what caused the problems with Jack in the first place. It was at that point Rehtaeh and Imam stopped talking to each other altogether.  
Rehtaeh contacted the General in the early morning to explain Heath’s circumstances and Tiller made a few calls to her superiors. Tiller was initially against Heath’s request for parole and discharge, but Rehtaeh convinced her to at least contact her superior officers. After meeting with Heath and Carolyn and talking to her Commandant, Tiller agreed that it would be bad judgment to sent Heath back to prison. Especially after Heath told Tiller his side of the story of how he had been captured and how and where he had really been found. The Commandant had one stipulation to his full release. Heath had to keep Rehtaeh in line, and Rehtaeh had to do the same with Heath. Neither of them could touch a single Alliance employee, as long as they obeyed that rule, they had immunity for time already served. It was another centuries old mess that the Company Rangers made that the Alliance was now cleaning up.  
Tiller filed the paperwork and by the end of the day Heath was officially paroled. The public files were altered to change his name and give him an identity that could be traced to before his arrival on the Hunter Gratzner, even though he had never been on the ship. Tiller helped him arrange to have his legal documents changed and new identification and credentials created in the name of Heath Garret. Tiller suggested that he use Rehtaeh’s high profile identity as a job source, since it was part of his parole anyways. Much to Rehtaeh’s chagrin she was forced to hire her nephew as her personal guard, since she was now a high-status member of New Mecca society. It meant that where ever Rehtaeh went Heath had to go with her. Riddick was secretly pleased by this turn of events, because it meant that Heath had to keep Rehtaeh safe.  
Two days later Jack came home. Even though the girl was confined to bed rest it was amazing what kind of trouble she could cause. Jack made it clear that she did not want to stay with Imam. She was adamant that she go after Remner to Aguerra Prime. Carolyn wanted Rehtaeh to wait for Jack to heal so they could take her. He and Heath shot the idea down, there was no way they could wait that long considering Toombs would arrive in a few days. He was a shoot first ask questions later kind of Merc, which would put everyone including Suleiman and Imam in danger. He was getting angry at the expectancy that Rehtaeh should put off finding Remner for a kid who was too injured to even walk. This left Jack sullen and grumpy, Carolyn angry and all three men completely frustrated. Rehtaeh didn’t say a word but her rage grew as she listened to the conversation. He could feel the tension in her body.  
Imam felt that Remner should be left to the ‘proper authorities’. Refusing to believe or listen to Rehtaeh when she kept telling him that she had been assigned the case by her superior officer and she was the proper authority. Rehtaeh was supremely frustrated by his continuing lack of regard for her training and expertise and his judgment on her character. Rehtaeh fell silent, fuming in rage, her sweet scent becoming more and more spicy.  
In the end it was decided. Jack would stay with Imam and Suleiman in New Mecca. Rehtaeh, Heath and Carolyn were going to go after Remner. They would be leaving two days after Riddick in order to cover his trail and keep Toombs off of him. Heath and Riddick agreed that they were taking too much time settling things in New Mecca, they all needed to get on with their missions. Riddick had no choice but to go his own way. He was leaving in the morning. She never told him but Rehtaeh was hurt more by this than any other plans or discussions had. He could tell because she immediately started to pull away from the group, though she had not contributed for hours unless asked a direct question she suddenly just stopped paying attention altogether. Long before the discussions died down she headed outside, leaving them to finish up.   
An hour later Carolyn left the conversation, seeing that she was not going to get anywhere new with any of them. Riddick watched as she went upstairs to Jack’s room and closed the door. Even though the room was on the second floor he could still hear Carolyn’s conversation with the kid through the closed door.  
“Still a no go, kid.” Her voice sounded weary, and very sad. She really wanted the girl to go with her even though she knew it was not a good enough reason to take the kid into a warzone and expose her to more violence. Especially when she had a history of interference and recklessness, the kid was a detriment to the entire mission.   
“It’s not fair, Carolyn, I made a mistake.” Jack replied to the woman, her voice was still sullen and frustrated.  
“I know.” Carolyn sighed softly. “Just make me a promise, Jack.”  
“What?” Jack asked, noncommittally.  
“Just promise me that you will wait for me. I swear I will come back for you. Just promise you will wait here for me to come get you.” Carolyn’s voice was choked.   
“I promise, Carolyn.” Jack swore to her. There were tears as both females bonded as only women will do, then Carolyn left the room, closing the door. The pilot went straight to the purple and yellow room that she was using. Heath stood up and followed her up the stairs. Since the confusion over his connection to Rehtaeh had been cleared up, Heath and Carolyn’s relationship flared tempestuously. Riddick heard them together the night before, but his attention was focused on Rehtaeh so he didn’t give the pair another thought.  
Imam headed downstairs to the home theater, intending to spend some time with his son, leaving Riddick to sit alone in the darkness. For a long while he sat thinking about what still needed to be done. The ship was fully stocked with food, supplies and weapons after gathering a few of Rehtaeh’s weapons that might come in handy on such a desolate planet such as UV. He made what arrangements he could with Imam, trying to protect the others from the knowledge of his destination. The fact that the holy man was not talking to Rehtaeh made him the perfect person to trust with the information, he would be less inclined to share it with her.   
All that was left to do was say his goodbyes. Heath and Imam were already done, giving each man one of the UD cards that Rehtaeh gave to him, since there was nowhere that he could spend that much money without drawing attention to himself. He talked to Suleiman earlier in the evening, not that the boy ever had much to say. Carolyn told him that he could wait ‘til morning, cause she wasn’t interested in saying goodbye before she absolutely had to. He headed in to Jack’s room and found her fast asleep. He would talk to her in the morning before he left.  
That just left Rehtaeh. She made him promise that he wouldn’t just ditch her. She wanted a proper good bye. He wondered if the sudden change in plans would affect them, she had pulled away from the group, would she turn away from him? The fact his touch still seemed to drive her wild might still work in his favor, plus her promise that she would not hold him to her. An hour passed and she still didn’t come back inside, so he followed her outside.  
Her scent led him to the far side of the house to the gym that had been built for her beside the pool. She wore only a pair of tight black shorts and a black sports bra, her feet were taped, and her hands were wrapped. She was beating the shit out of a heavy bag, sweat was pouring off of her, and she was grunting with effort as she threw hit after hit into the bag. Every muscle in her body was defined, accentuated due to the physical effort she had put out over the last few hours. She was a beast. A very beautiful beast. Her long blonde hair was braided back from her face, swinging like a pendulum as she moved around the bag. The moment she sensed him within her perimeter she turned on him. She wasn’t wearing her glasses and her eyes glowed with that feral red look. She gave a primal growl as she backed away from him. She was completely aroused, as she always was when she reached this level of aggression, it had been days since he had seen her in such a state and he wanted her.   
He stalked towards her, and she circled away. Her animal side knew that he was the dominant one in this fight, and she was wary of him. She kept a distance from him. Her wrapped hands were curled into dangerous claws; her taped feet were silent on the concrete pad. He pulled a blade from his waist band, and prowled after his prey. She spun away from him and made to bolt towards the change rooms near the pool. She was fast, but he proved to be faster and she was pinned up against the wall of the house within seconds. It took no time to cut away the synthetic sports bra and shorts. He left the hand wraps and tape, thinking that she looked hot, wearing only them. Her eyes flashed in the darkness, the only sound coming from her were angry growls telling him of her rage and her frustration. He dropped the knife and undid his pants, letting them fall to his knees. Then he embedded himself in her up to the hilt, catching her scream in his mouth as her body struggled against his for a moment. He pounded into her hard and fast. She wrapped her legs around his hips arching against him. Her screams turning to moans and groans of pleasure.   
He released her hands and pulled her hips harder against his, her shoulders were resting on the wall of her house, the angle giving him more leverage. He slid out almost to the tip before slamming back in to her, showing her that he was the master, that she belonged to only him. The resulting moan had him grinding himself deeper and deeper into her hot wet depths. It was rough, his treatment of her this time, and yet she was giving her own. Her clawed hands scratched deep into his shoulders, leaving long red marks on him. He growled at her and she growled back. He released her so he could strip off his clothes and she ran away from the change rooms back towards her gym. He stalked after her dropping his clothes on the ground as he followed her into the little building, growling deep in his throat reminding her who she belonged to. She growled back, still not giving in to him. She dodged him twice around some of her weight machines. He caught her again in the farthest corner of the glass building. Her shrill scream of defiance thrilled him as he hauled her to the ground.   
She was on her belly, her round muscular ass tempted him and he entered her from behind. She was still so wet and ready for him. He pounded into her creating a hard rhythm for her to keep up with, so she pushed back against him. Her need for him was apparent as she bucked against him her little mewls and pants giving her away. He reached around her and caressed her breasts, pinching her perky rosebud nipples until she screamed with the intensity of her passion. She came hard, but he was not done with her yet, he wanted more from her. He turned her over and forced her legs further apart so that he could drive into her harder and watch her face as she came for him again. It didn’t take her long before she was crying out his name, begging him to take her over the edge. He slammed into her again and again as she cried out his name in ecstasy. He followed her, spilling his seed into her womb. He knew that she could become pregnant with his child, hell with all of the unprotected sex they had had over the past week, it was a high probability that she was already with child.  
He kept himself buried deep within her. Holding her there underneath him he watched her face as her unfocused eyes slowly came back to awareness. The awareness that he was still deep within her and could take her again made her eyes go wide. She arched her back driving herself up against him, giving him the permission and the submission he wanted from her. “Richard, please don’t let this night end.”   
He carried her to one of the lounge benches near the pool and lowered her down. Giving her no room between them to escape, he took her again soft and slow, caressing and touching and kissing every inch of her body. He wanted to take this memory of her with him. The memory of her writhing beneath him, whispering his name, calling for him, gasping her need and want and desire for him, she came for him again and again. He took her again in her shower, up against the wall as the hot spray washed away the sweat and seed from their earlier lovemaking. Both of them seemed desperate in their need to get their fill of each other, knowing that their time together was quickly slipping away. Finally they fell into her bed, completely spent and slept entwined in each other’s arms.   
When he stirred, he tried not to wake her, but the moment he moved away from her she was up. She dressed in silence as he dressed in his own clothes. He was not sure how he was going to do this. He was not good at the whole goodbye thing, but when he turned to her she ignored him completely and walked out of the room as she braided her long silver blonde hair. She went to the kitchen and started making breakfast for everyone as he went in to talk to Jack.  
The girl was already awake, sitting propped up against her pillows. She looked up at him with sad eyes as he entered the room. “So this is it then?”  
“Looks that way, kid.” Riddick told her. “It’s the only way to keep the Mercs off your tail, and from using you against me.”  
“Will you come back when it’s safe?” Jack asked her voice petulant. She sounded much younger than her twelve years at that point, she sounded like a small broken child rather than the tough kid he had taken off that cursed planet and who had toughed it out so bravely on the Merc ship. She was miles away from the kid who had taken out Junner.  
“It will never be safe enough Jack. You know this.” Riddick told her, he brushed his hand over her hair, it had grown out a bit since they had left the planet they called Hades and so far she hadn’t made another attempt at shaving it off.  
“Then maybe I can come find you!” The girl just didn’t know when to give up.   
“And maybe you can stay here where it is safe, and try for a normal life.” He countered before walking back to the door. “Goodbye, Jack.”  
He walked out of her room and went to the kitchen where Rehtaeh had left his meal sitting on the counter top. Scrambled eggs, sausage, and hash-browns, she was nowhere to be found. He ate quickly and headed to his ship in hopes that he could leave without some sad crying scene, but that was where he found her. Leaning against his ship holding what looked like a quiver of arrows.   
“I saw that you took Dad’s long bow, I figured you could use some proper arrows for it. There is also some extra bowstring, in case the one you have breaks.” She looked up at him holding out the gift. He took it from her, and she looked up at him. He looked down at her not saying anything waiting for her to make a move and she just looked back up at him. Her eyes had a hard look, as though she emptied all of her emotions away somewhere, hidden them in the depths of herself so that they could not be used against her. This was a military trick; he once learned the same thing a long time before, when he was in the Company Rangers.   
She reached up and touched his face. “You keep safe, stay out of the slams, and off the scent of the Mercs.”  
Then she walked away back towards the house, her back was straight, her steps were even and she didn’t look back.   
“Stay out of trouble, Rehtaeh!” He called to her, her hand rose and she flipped him off, before she suddenly turned on her heels and grinned at him. His heart stopped at the beauty that was her, and the tear that was falling brightly down the side of her nose and over her cheek. She blew him a kiss and ducked into the house. Carolyn came out and gave him a quick hug. He looked at her for a long moment before he asked her. “Carolyn, I am worried about Rehtaeh, can you-,”  
“Yeah, Riddick, I will watch out for her.” Carolyn said, as he hesitated. He didn’t want to leave. He had just found the best thing to ever happen to him and he was leaving her behind. “Just do me a favor and don’t die. She will be inconsolable if you do.”  
“I don’t think it’ll be that bad.” Riddick smirked at the pilot.  
“You are wrong. I have never seen someone fall as hard and fast as she did.” Carolyn told him, her eyes flashed with anger. “She needs you. She needs you alive.”  
Carolyn walked back into the house just as Heath and Imam both came out and gave him a wave. Riddick turned the mechanism for the hatch and then climbed on board. He was in deep space within the hour, his course set to the sixth planet of the UV system, and then a message popped up. It had been on a timer.   
“Richard, I know that if I tell you this to your face when we say goodbye, I won’t be able to keep my promise. My heart belongs to you ‘till the end of time. I love you, to the depths of my soul, I always will. I just wish we could have had more time. I won’t hold you here, Richard. I promised that I wouldn’t. Goodbye, My Love.” There were tears in her eyes, brimming at the wells, but she had not let a single one fall. Then she was gone.   
He attempted to recall the message, so he could play it again, but the message had erased itself, so that she could not be used against him in the future if someone found this ship. He turned growling and smashed his fist into the paneling behind him. If he could go back to her he would, in a heartbeat, but it wasn’t safe. Not for either of them. He looked around the ship and his eyes touched on every place that he had taken her. Made her his. Her scent permeated the air around him; it filled him and haunted him. What the hell was it with that Fucking Rehtaeh? Damn that woman for getting under his skin. He needed time to wrap his head around this, time to wrap his mind around her.   
He checked himself into cryo, and let his mind drift into thoughts and memories. Reliving his moments with her. His Rehtaeh Ennaline Furya, in that moment he hoped that he had gotten the woman well and undeniably pregnant with his child. Then he negated that thought. NO, if she got pregnant, he wanted to be there so he could see her grow with his seed. He wanted to touch her body as their child grew inside her belly, feeling the life that he put there. He wanted her Impossible Dream. He wanted the world that had been stolen from him the moment his parents had attempted to strangle him with his umbilical cord. He wanted her.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33  
Rehtaeh  
There was a Merc on her tail and a hit on her head. She should have been happy she was on her way to trying to get her freedom back. But she wasn’t. It would take nearly three months to reach Aguerra Prime, and if they had to constantly stop for supplies it would take even longer. This meant that the only thing that she and Heath could do was check into Cryo, neither of them liked the idea, but the look on Carolyn’s face swayed them. She would do anything to get Carolyn back to Jack as quickly as possible. Carolyn was already in a deep state of cryostasis oblivious to the world and Rehtaeh was still trying to gain the courage to strap in when the emotions got to be too much.  
“Heath, we have to go back!” She started punching the coordinates for New Mecca back into the navigation system. There was no way that Imam was going to be able to control the girl. She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t go into cryo, she couldn’t live without Riddick, Jack was going to run before they ever got back. She knew she was being irrational but there was no holding back the emotional tide that was overwhelming her.  
She wasn’t going to survive this. She felt lost and weak without Riddick. She could barely hold it together, and felt like an idiot constantly slapping a half smile on her face pretending she was fine. Before they left Jack apologized over and over again for what she did and the lie she told Imam. Rehtaeh forgave her and promised her that when she came back she would teach her some martial arts as long as she learned the meditation that went with it. Jack lit up enthusiastically. Rehtaeh also made her promise to stay with Imam and to stay out of trouble. Then they left Jack behind and she found that she missed the kid.   
“No, Rehtaeh, we cannot. We need to get this Remner person off of your tail, for your sake and for Jack and Riddick’s. Toombs is a stubborn ass, he is not going to give up on finding you or Riddick, not after hunting you down from the Kublai Khan. If he finds out your connection to Jack, you know as well as I do, he will use her against both of you. She is safe with Imam.” Heath reminded her again, turning her in her chair, forcing her to face him.   
“For now, until she decides that she is healed and wants more than Imam can provide for her. She is wild and adventurous, highly impulsive, she is going to need something to stimulate her or she is going to get stir crazy. If she does, I am afraid she is going to do something stupid.” Rehtaeh told him as she tried to hit the enter button to change course.  
“What makes you so sure that she is going to break her promise to Carolyn?” Heath asked her, stopping her hand and holding it in his own.  
“Whatever happened in her childhood, it scarred her. I don’t know if she even understands what a promise really means. The word holds no weight with her. She has a coldness inside her that reminds me-.” Rehtaeh stopped looking at Heath, she felt a small twinge of fear.   
“Reminds you of what?” Heath asked her looking at her suddenly, looking, really looking at her.  
“Of me,” she whispered clenching her nephews hand in hers. “Did Jacob ever tell you what happened when he found out about my A.D.S.? How he figured it out?”  
“No, he just said that you had a really bad episode when you were thirteen.” Heath looked at her, his eyes full of questions.   
“I was thirteen, things were getting bad. I didn’t feel-.” Rehtaeh thought for a long moment. Stumbling and reaching for the words to the history that she tried to hide from. “I didn’t feel like I was a part of anything, my brothers had each other, my dad and I barely agreed on anything, my mom was so busy trying to be the peacekeeper, and I just felt so lost. My A.D.S. was getting worse and worse, to the point that my friends had given up on me because I had been avoiding them for months, and I was ditching school so I could avoid the classroom. The only people I could stand being around were my immediate family. Everyone except my father, a man that I had admired since birth, I couldn’t stand being in the same room as him, much less allowing him to give me a hug. Do you have any idea what it is like to be that uncomfortable around someone who is supposed to love you?”  
She looked at him, trying to push the tears away as she remembered. “I kept trying to explain the pain that I was feeling, and no one seemed to be listening. I went on a date one night with a boy I had a crush on in school. We were both top of the class, he was sweet, really nice to me, when he dropped me off at home he gave me a peck on the cheek and the pain from his touch was excruciating. He tried to help but every time he reached out to touch me I was in agony. Jacob was the one to come out to see what was wrong, I was still crying so Garret had to tell Jacob what happened. When Mom and dad found out they got into a massive fight, I just couldn’t take the yelling anymore. So I ran away from home.”  
“We were living in Vancouver at the time; there were uprisings about the food shortages and the oil monopolies, and the alternative energy blockades. I was caught in the middle of one of the most violent of the uprisings. There were so many people and they were so close.” Rehtaeh started choking on the words as she got caught up in the memory. She had been so cold that day, and there were so many people. “The riots were getting worse and worse, there were people fighting, killing each other, police shooting without discretion. It was hell. It happened so suddenly, I was in the middle of a crowd there were so many people that I could no longer differentiate between them. It was like a solid wall of ice had formed around me. That was when someone grabbed me. He was a large man, holding a knife and it was coming straight at me, so I fought back. I killed him.”  
“You killed him? With no weapon?” Heath asked her, his face was filled with shock, horror, surprise, and awe. She laughed despite her own horror at the memory.  
“Yeah, I had been practicing martial arts since I was a child so I was lucky that I knew how to block the knife hand. Everything else was instinct and survival mode. I remember most of it in flashes, and bursts. I ended up getting control of the knife and slashing his throat. When his buddies saw that I had taken him down, they came after me. I was small, smaller than I am now, and hey, I didn’t grow a whole hell of a lot since then.” Rehtaeh told him softly. “When my Mother and Jacob found me, I was surrounded by dead bodies. Turns out I had taken out a small gang that had been causing trouble in the area. It was then, when the police tried to take me in that Jacob saw that their touch was causing me physical pain. It confirmed what Garret had told him. He told my mom and she insisted that I be placed into medical care. I did a short stint in Juvie for manslaughter, but someone had videotaped the entire attack, which showed them come after me. I had acted purely in self defense, so I was released. I was thirteen and had killed six people and didn’t feel any remorse for doing so. I had turned off my emotions because of the A.D.S. The constant pain from trying to be around my father and my friends had basically made me cold and emotionless.”  
“So how did they change it, how did they pull you back?”Heath asked her, his brow creased in confusion.   
“My mother took me to Paris for a while just her and I, she started to teach me some meditation techniques which helped me to manage the pain that I was feeling, to center myself in moments of distress. She partnered the meditation with my martial arts and combat training. I was able to separate my thoughts and feelings about the coldness. I was able to start using them during attacks, she taught me to use it as a weapon. She taught me to enjoy the coldness in each hit and each block.” Rehtaeh told him. She looked at the coordinates that she had punched in for New Mecca, still certain that she had to go back for Jack. “When I went home it was easier to be around other people, I was able to reconnect on an emotional level, if not a physical level. Your dad was a key to that, while I was gone, he had explained to my friends about my illness. Garret helped them; he was my best friend throughout school. Your uncles made sure that I was always with someone compatible when in a room with others, or in some cases, made sure that I was in a room alone.”  
“And how would this help Jack? What can you teach her that she hasn’t already learned? How is this more urgent than getting Remner off of your back?” Heath pressed on, he was insistent that they follow through with the original plan.  
“I can teach her control of her attacks, I can teach her strategy and how to read people. I can teach her patience and help her separate her wants and her needs.” Rehtaeh told him, trying to get him to understand. “I can get her to find her center and learn to reconnect with humanity. Meditation will help her do that. There is something special to be found inside your mind, something that can connect a soul to the universe, and through that I can help her find her heart.”  
“So what happens if you go back to New Mecca, and you find that she is fine, and you hurt her more by showing her that you didn’t trust her word? Which is worse: her breaking her promise to Carolyn, or you not trusting that she will do the right thing on her own?” Heath pressed her. It was an admonition and he was right. If she went back for Jack now, it would be the same as her telling the girl that she was untrustworthy. “I know you care about the girl, but as a mentor, and as a friend, you need to trust her. You need to let her go. You need to trust that she is going to listen to your warning as well as Riddick’s. You have both explained the consequences, and it is up to her to make the right choices.”  
“Ugh, I hope you are right, I can only hope that Suleiman can prove to be enough of a distraction for her to keep her busy until we get back.” He was right. She tried to argue it out in her own head, but there was no going back. No matter what she could teach Jack, if she went back for her now, she would lose Jack’s respect, not gain it. So she did the only thing that she could and erased the commands and resumed course to Aguerra Prime. “Riddick would feel awful if something happened to her after putting so much effort into keeping her safe.”  
They shared a long silence. She was afraid to say more, if she did she would start to cry. She didn’t want to burden Heath with her pining for Riddick. He didn’t need her emotional turmoil in his life. Riddick was always there in the back of her mind, haunting her, calling for her. She wished that she had something of his that she could have kept for herself, but there was nothing. Everything he owned, he wore on his body. All she wanted was him.  
“He didn’t want to leave you. Riddick would have taken you with him if he could have.” Heath told her as they prepped for Cryo. Heath convinced her to try it, just once. He vowed to her that if she truly couldn’t stand it or if it pulled her too far in, he would disengage her. She looked at Carolyn sleeping peacefully in her cryobed and wished she could rest like that. That was when she noticed a blinking light on the control panel, she narrowed her eyes to examine the panel. “You need to get Remner off your back and he needs to get the mercs off of his ass before you two even have a hope at being together. Your relationship with him is complicated Rehtaeh, but not impossible. You just gotta find the loopholes.”   
“Speaking of loopholes, Heath; you had better start closing yours with Carolyn, cause if that means what I think it does, you are going to be pretty busy when we get home to New Mecca.” She looked at Heath and he looked down at the panel. The control panel had adjusted itself to Maternal Monitoring mode and was requesting a food supply for the life that was growing inside of the young pilot.   
“Shit.” Heath looked completely shell shocked. He had only known Carolyn for a month. Everything was happening too fast.   
“Good thing we don’t really sleep.” Rehtaeh said as she went into the cryo supply cupboard and pulled out the essential nutrient bag that needed to be attached to her chemical supply. Rehtaeh read the instructions. “This should last a month, unless it is twins, I guess we will know in a few weeks if multiples were passed down through your father’s line.”  
As it was Cryo wasn’t so bad, the chemicals that they used these days were nowhere near as harsh as the ones that they used on her before. She was still able to move, she just didn’t age or feel hungry, or need to use the facilities, and she was able to sleep. The only problem with sleep, were the dreams, her animal mind still allowed her to dream, and they were vivid and unrelenting. She kept waking Heath up with her screams. The worst part about Cryo was all the time to think, she didn’t need that. Riddick was always predominant in her mind, she wanted him to be with her, but she knew that he was safer away from her and her from him.   
She and Heath talked in length about her brothers, his uncles and father. He told her about Furya and what it was like there. It was a lot like earth according to his father. Mountains and rainforests and deserts and lakes, it was a spectacular landscape and would take centuries to fully explore all of it. Heath just knew it as home. A wondrous and beautiful planet, even if it was a harsher environment than the original researchers were used to. As much as it had started out as a Military Research Development program, the harsh environment had dictated that the people who had settled there to become stronger and more equipped to handle the beasts that inhabited the world. So they became warriors, stylizing their lives and their community after the native people of earth.   
According to Heath, Jacob knew that Rehtaeh was alive. He just couldn’t prove it, and while his brothers mourned her death along with their parent’s deaths, he tried to find out the truth. His efforts were met with a lot of cold shoulders, cold stares, red tape and solid walls. When Heath came of age Jacob confided in his youngest son. Telling him of his fears that his sister was trapped somewhere unable to get to them or call for help. She and Jacob always had such a close connection, and all of his instincts told him that she was very much alive. Heath went after the Alliance, he worked his way up the ranks at first, it took him over ten years and finally he gained enough information to find out that she was indeed alive and where they were holding her. He sent a message to his father regarding what he intended to do before he infiltrated the Medical Research facility and killed hundreds of Alliance soldiers as he made his way to her. The closest he got was to the viewing room above her cryo cell before he was taken down. When he saw her, he knew that his father was right, and then he was dropped unceremoniously into his own cryo cell. They didn’t even give him a trial.  
Rehtaeh refused to let Heath get the medications for Carolyn and wouldn’t let him see the Chronos either. When they finally reached Aguerra Prime Rehtaeh used over eight bags, the trip only lasted three months. They were either having large twins or triplets. Carolyn was already starting to show. The pilot was none too impressed when she woke and Rehtaeh broke the news. Easily as shocked as Heath had been, her emotions of course were all over the map. Rehtaeh told them to go up to the loft and work their shit out. They had a mission to complete. When they finally came down from upstairs, they startled Rehtaeh at the controls, since she had put on her music and was listening to it really loudly. They laughed at her when she teased them for being loud. “You think we are bad Rehtaeh, You and Riddick put us to shame any day.”  
They both hugged Rehtaeh and thanked her for changing the meds for her. She looked at them and said, “Yeah we will need to stock up on more before we head home, you nearly used up the entire supply. Congrats you are going to have a big family. My guess is either large twins or a set of triplets. This great aunt wants triplets.”  
Rehtaeh got the last laugh in that conversation.   
They planned out their entrance to Aguerra Prime, figured out locations, docking stations, and even used satellite imaging to verify Remner’s exact whereabouts. There were three pin point entry points on the planet that they could get in and back out without detection. The last thing they needed were witnesses, and with such an overpopulated planet there would be plenty of opportunity to be seen. Aguerra Prime was a resort planet. Being covered in mostly water with tons of tiny islands a tourist would have their pick of destinations. It was over populated for the amount of actual land mass available, most of the buildings were multi-occupancy types of homes. Mainly apartments, condos, hotels, resorts. There was very little manufacturing, only enough to sustain the local population. The wildlife consisted mostly of sea life, which had to be carefully fished out of the poison waters, by expert fishermen. The creatures had to be carefully detoxified and cleaned, and properly cooked before it could be consumed. Every catch was considered a delicacy. Because of the poison waters the planet attracted mostly adults wanting to escape their busy lives, there was no place for children to play at the beach in the waters.   
The plan was to grab Remner and go back and secure the evidence in each of the warehouses that Rehtaeh located on the satellite maps. Before they even dropped into atmosphere they dressed in the military gear that Tiller had provided to them. If anyone looked at them, they would assume that they were military personnel doing a midnight op, official Alliance business. Carolyn was at the controls and Heath and Rehtaeh would be going to the ground. Rehtaeh looked at Carolyn and told her that under no circumstances was she to engage in any fighting. They would be going in at night, both she and Heath were trained in silent entry, so as long as everything went well it would be an easy hit.   
As luck would have it, they didn’t have any. The only thing they nailed was entry without detection. Remner was away on a fishing trip, taking a massive boat out into the middle of the poison waters. There was no place to land, and they couldn’t take him without alerting dozens of the Doctors friends and acquaintances. They couldn’t hover over the water for weeks on end either, which meant they needed to check into a port. All names were checked and verified in the Alliance computer system, which meant that Remner would immediately know that she was there. There were two possible options to salvage the operation. The first was to leave planet and wait on the outer system until the damn man went back to his resort. The second was to drop Rehtaeh and Heath at Remner’s apartment so they could scope out his warehouses and gather the evidence they needed while they waited for Remner to return.   
Choosing option number two Rehtaeh and Heath dropped into the small island village where the first of three warehouses were situated. They stayed on their com units and Carolyn took the ship back out of atmosphere to await their signal. The first warehouse was a bust. From what they could see everything had been moved recently. They checked with local records and they found that the building recently sold for three million UD to a massive development company.   
“He has to pay for your hit somehow Rehtaeh, my bet is he has sold at least one of the other warehouses to pay for the rest.” Heath said as they put away the records book for the sale on the warehouse.   
“Well why don’t we check the listings to see if there’s been any movement on the properties and go from there? I don’t want Carolyn to waste her time playing taxi for us.” Rehtaeh said looking around the massive city records library. “We are in the right place. They would have similar listings here, for their neighboring islands.”   
Heath was right the second largest of the three warehouses was also in the possession of new owners. They had bought the building and the surrounding land for six point four million UD. It was slated to be turned into a premium sunshine resort and spa.   
“What about the bodies, won’t they know something was up when bodies start being dug out of the ground?” Heath asked when she read the zoning report.  
“No Remner uses the ocean to dispose of the bodies. It is a natural poison, so only the most extreme divers even venture in there, and usually it is for work of some sort.” Rehtaeh told him. Remner explained all of this to her long ago, while he was using her as his sick fantasy puppet. “The ocean predators destroy the evidence of the body within a few days. That’s why there have never been any bodies show up and how Remner has gotten away with it for so long.”  
“So if we are not looking for bodies, what are we looking for?” They rented a sea faring ship to take them three islands over so they could check out the final warehouse. It was the one Remner bragged about the most, it was also the one that was farthest from his house. This bothered Rehtaeh, if he caught even the slightest scent that she was on the planet he would run and she would have to chase him down. Even though Carolyn was watching satellite feeds for Remner’s return, she was still afraid that the man would slip away. What she really needed was a change in luck.  
“He will have his experiments housed in there, living girls, in various stages of their “transformations” as he calls it. He also keeps trophies of his girls. He keeps their um, lady bits, in um, jars so he can fantasize about them later.” Rehtaeh looked away as she stood at the prow of the ship, behind the protective glass, so she wouldn’t get motion sick. Since learning to pilot she found that the sickness had eased. It was not completely better, but at least she didn’t feel the urge to spew her lunch every time they hit a wave.  
“Oh My Dear! You have got to be kidding me! That is one sick fuck.” Heath nearly lost his lunch as he thought about what Remner’s fetish was.   
“My thoughts exactly.” Rehtaeh said dropping into thought.   
The trip to the island took four and a half hours by boat. Once they got to the island village where the warehouse was located, Heath used his UD card to get them a couple of rooms and they headed in to have a nap before they went back out for the night. The hotel room was just that; a standard hotel room with a small bathroom, a queen sized bed with bedside tables and lamps on each side. There was an entertainment panel across from the bed. And a desk console for those people who came for business. It was nothing really special, but it was hers for the night. She hit the tech pad by the door and switched the windows to black out tint. She removed her diamond crusted glasses, stripped off the com unit and placed them on the bedside table. She stripped out of her clothes and had a quick shower, cleaning off the grime of sweat and warehouse dust, and the taint of thinking about Remner.   
Once she was done she stepped out of the shower wrapped herself in her towel and let her exhaustion pull her towards the bed. Dripping wet she curled up on the hard mattress and closed her eyes. Trying to will away the images of Riddick that were constantly plaguing her mind. She would see a cat in the darkness and its eyes would remind her of his, she would see a buff bald man in cargos blocks ahead of her on the streets of Little Versaille and her heart would stop. Everything reminded her of him. Jack picked up so many of his nuances in such a short time that being around her was both a joy and heart wrenching at the same time, Heath’s deep baritone laugh reminded her of Riddick’s low rumbling chuckle. The way that Carolyn would look at her, it was like the other woman knew that a piece of Rehtaeh was missing. Something vital and integral. Three months of cryo should have been plenty of time to get him out of her system and yet she still silently cried herself to sleep.  
He was there! He came back for her, wait no, this was another dream. She knew this. Riddick was in too much danger to come back for her. It had to be a dream. He beckoned to her, signaling for her to come to him. It was a dream, but he was here and that was all that mattered to her. She ran to him, and put her arms around him, holding him close. He did the same, pulling her into a tight embrace. He was cold. So cold. It was as though he had distanced himself from her. She looked up into his beautiful silver eyes and screamed. He was dead. There was a blue tinge to his skin, ice crystals were forming in his eyes and his body was like frozen meat. There was a massive two headed axe embedded in his back. ‘No Riddick, No.’  
The man in the black leather and the menacing crown pulled her away from her dead lover. ‘I told you, you are nothing. You cannot save him.’ She screamed in rage and lashed out at the man in leather, throwing herself at him, directing all of her pain at him, but he just laughed. He laughed knowing that nothing she could ever do would hurt him. She was powerless. ‘You are nothing without him. He doesn’t need you and you mean nothing to him. You are no one.’  
‘I am the sister time forgot, the heart of seven! I am red on black!’ She screamed at him willing herself to fight harder, ‘I am the shadow mage, I am the source!’  
‘You are dead!’ She saw a thousand blades come out of the darkness of her dream and she was sliced into tiny slivers of pieces. Her bloody remains rained darkly on the white snow beneath her feet. She cried silently as a blanket of hot white light swirled around her and swept her up. She thought for sure that she was finally going to beat the man, but no. This was his power. This was his special gift. He was tearing her apart, cell by cell, molecule by molecule, atom by atom. Until she was nothing but a single seed of light in the darkness.   
“No!” She screamed into wakefulness, sitting straight up on the bed. She looked around the dark hotel room. The darkness called to her and she eased herself back onto the bed and allowed herself to drift among the cold shadows as she waited for the chronos to strike midnight. It was all she had now, the cold indifference of the dark shadows that beckoned her to join them. She held out her hand and willed it to disappear. She willed her fingers to turn into shadows and they did. Certain that she was having a waking dream, she continued on, willing her entire hand to join the shadows. It disappeared into the darkness as well. She raised her other hand and did the same. Lying there on the bed she marveled at how pale her handless arms were among the shadows and how easily she could make them disappear as well.   
“Rehtaeh are you ready?” Heath’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked at her hands in the darkness and shook her head. They were just hands, pale five fingered hands similar to those of every other human she had ever met.   
“Almost!” She jumped out of bed and pulled her discarded clothing back on to her body. Reattached her com unit and put her glasses back on, reminding herself once again to look into transitional lenses.   
She flung open the door to see Heath standing there with a concerned look on his face. “You okay Aunt Rehtaeh? You look a little paler than usual.”  
“Fine, Heath. I just had a nightmare, that’s all.” Rehtaeh told him as she walked away. The warehouse they were going to was only a few blocks away. She could still feel the horrible pain at seeing Riddick cold and lifeless, it sent a chill into her very soul. If something happened to him, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to carry on.  
“It was about them again wasn’t it? Riddick and the masked man?” He always seemed to know when she was getting too close to the edge, and he always seemed to be there to pull her back.  
“Yeah, only this time Riddick was dead.” Rehtaeh told him, she knew that Carolyn was listening too. The three of them had no more secrets. She was fully aware that Heath shared everything with Carolyn, including her secrets. “And then so was I.”  
“Well you are still alive right now, Rehtaeh. You die in every dream, so it must mean that you are going to continue to live.” Carolyn’s voice came over the ear piece. Rehtaeh thought about that for a moment. By using that logic, that meant that Riddick still lived as well. She would happily accept that.   
“Stop disappearing into your head Rehtaeh.” Heath told her under his breath, “I need you on the top of your game tonight. So many things could go wrong.”  
“I know Heath, I am well aware of the risks.” Rehtaeh checked her gear and her weapons. “You ready to do some old fashioned B- n-E’s?”  
“Bee-en-Ee’s?” Carolyn asked, her voice was confused.  
“Break and Entry, Carolyn.” Heath informed her. Carolyn was the only person other than Riddick that they told the real story about their past to. She didn’t believe a word they said until Rehtaeh showed her the files. They walked slowly down the street, like they were a couple out for a stroll in the neighborhood staying in the lighted areas as they moved towards their target.  
“You old timers really need to brush up on your slang. You are a little out dated.” Came the snarky reply from the pilot.  
“Well this old fogey can kick your ass around the bend twice, so be careful young grasshopper.” Rehtaeh returned with a little more spring to her step. She loved that Heath and Carolyn included her in their banter.   
“You better be willing to back that up, little white haired lady.” Carolyn snapped back then roared at her own joke.  
“I am thinking I should dye my hair. This whole old lady stuff is bruising my ego.” Rehtaeh chuckled darkly. They passed the warehouse scoping out if there were any lights on, or which type of security the building had. Rehtaeh knew most of the codes. Remner had a big mouth; he had told her so much about his little hobby.  
“You will do no such thing. If you do, Riddick will kill all of us when he gets back.” Heath growled at her, there was a deep edge to his voice now that had not been there before. They had both taken to talking as though Riddick were away on a business trip. Rehtaeh knew it was because none of them wanted to even consider that this could be a long term thing. Mostly it was for her sake, for the sake of her sanity. She appreciated their thoughtfulness, but she didn’t need to be coddled. “Rehtaeh, you are drifting again.”  
“What do you mean when you say stuff like that, Heath?” Rehtaeh asked suddenly, giving him a hard look. She pulled her hair back into a nautilus bun at the back of her head and pulled out the thin hood that was tucked into the collar of her thin military sweater, pulling it over her silver blonde hair.   
“I mean you, disappear into your head and you just seem to fade.” Heath told her honestly. He pulled his own hood up, and both of them made their way down a dark alley, moving from shadow to shadow.  
“I’ve seen that too, Rehtaeh.” Carolyn said over the com unit, her voice was thoughtful. “You were standing in the airlock prepping to drop. I remember you standing in the shadows and you were deep in thought. It was like you started wearing the shadow. I don’t know if I am explaining it right, but it was like you were fading away.”  
“What are you thinking about when that happens?” Heath asked suddenly.  
“In the airlock I was trying not to fall apart. I am usually thinking about Riddick or that I would like to be part of the darkness. It would be so easy to walk among the shadows undetected, like I did on T2 when I killed those two bio-raptors and moved the stone to the cave entrance.” Rehtaeh told them.   
“Fuck! I had a feeling that was a set up!” Carolyn snapped. “You had us all so well played.”  
“I had to; he was going to leave everyone behind.” Rehtaeh said in defense. Heath waved her into silence, and she waited for him to get on with business.  
“This is Alpha, Voodoo Triumph is at ready, com systems check, code names only. Roll Call!” Heath said into his com device. They were just across the street from Remner’s warehouse. “Gamma, do you have Top Brass on board?”  
“Gamma in position, Top Brass is connected. Top Brass, confirm?” Carolyn called back. Their radio communications from this point forward would be recorded for evidence. The Alliance did not want any names to be used.   
“Top Brass confirms,” Tiller’s voice carried over the line. She was in New Mecca using a deep space satellite com unit that carried signal in real time. The wonders of this new technology never ceased to amaze Rehtaeh.  
“Beta, are you in position?” Heath asked Rehtaeh even though she was standing right beside him. It was all protocol.  
“Beta confirms, ready for go ahead.” Rehtaeh looked him in the eye.  
“Go ahead, Beta. Make your move.” Heath said to her over the com. There would be no need to push buttons everything was going to be live streamed.  
She looked both ways waiting for any witnesses to clear the scene, the street was quiet not a soul saw them run across to the entrance of the dark warehouse. There was a light above the door, and the only thing standing between them and entrance was a keypad. She looked at it for a long moment before she punched in a five digit code, it flashed green but didn’t unlock. ‘This was the sequence lock, remember? Remner had a thing for patterns and sequences,’ she thought as she recalled Remner’s words to her. ‘I am a multi-layered man, Little Voodoo Doll, I like my locks to be layered too. Everything comes in sequence.’  
She punched in the next sequence, again the light blinked green but the lock didn’t open. “What’s wrong with it Beta? Why isn’t it opening?”  
“It’s a Remner thing.” She dismissed the question and punched in the final sequence. There was a quiet blip noise and the light flashed green and she heard the lock disengage. “Wait until I call you in Alpha. He has another sequence on the panel inside, the floor is touch sensitive and I have to disengage the lock or the place will blow. He has it all rigged.”  
“This man is worse than you thought, Alpha.” Carolyn whispered over the com. She was the only person who was not in the vicinity to be heard by bystanders and yet she was being as quiet as she possibly could. Heath just growled in response and Rehtaeh shivered. Damn these alpha males, they were too damn much alike.  
She went inside, she could feel the floor reading her footsteps as she walked to the panel. She looked at it for a long second, recalling the information Remner told her and punched in the code. The door swept open, but Rehtaeh could see the red beams from the lasers that spanned the door. A fool who didn’t know would walk right through and be sliced to pieces. She punched in the final code and the little red lights disappeared.   
She stepped into the next room motioning Heath forward with her hand and took off her sunglasses. There were hundreds if not a thousand large jars lining the shelves that spanned the left wall. The right wall was bare and it was a long stretch of hallway down to the end of the building. True to his word, each jar contained a pair of breasts and the reproductive organs of the female they belonged to. Some were small and prepubescent and others were from fully grown woman with the evidence of childbirth and everything in between. Rehtaeh held back the bile that rose in her throat.   
“You getting this Gamma?” She had a camera attached to the hood that covered her hair. It would be feeding the information back to Tiller and the Commandant.   
“Unfortunately, yes. Top Brass, are you receiving on your end?” Carolyn said, her voice sounded choked, lucky for her, she only had to see it on screen. She didn’t have to deal with the smell of decaying flesh and preservatives.  
“Yes, we are recording the footage on this end. Carry on.” The Commandant’s voice carried over the lines, clear as though he were in the room with them. Rehtaeh could even hear Tiller gagging in the background.  
“August 4, 2578. We have taken entry of the warehouse located at Island New Pappa on Aguerra Prime, the suspected hide out and lair of Doctor Charles Remner. We have located his cache of souvenirs from the victims of his suspected crimes. As you can see each jar is painstakingly labeled with date, time of death, name of victim, and the docket number of their experiment log.”  
She held out her arm and punched a command into the wrist pad computer that she was wearing. It flashed a green red and then blue light before completing a scan of each jar as she passed them. She was walking at a slow pace but with each step she took the computer logged any finger prints found on the bottles, and recorded the data from the labels. It automatically cataloged location of the jar along with everything else and compiled it into a data base.  
She reached the end of the wall of jars and turned to the right to look down the next hallway. This one had nothing at all on the left and the right consisted of glass walled jail cells. Each cubicle measured six by six meters, eight meters in height. There were twenty cells in total. There was a girl strapped to a bed in the center of each cell, her arms and legs splayed out wide. Of the twenty women eight were already dead, six were so near death that their heart rate monitors seemed to be on the cusp of flat lining. The remaining six were in various stages of illness and obvious disease. They were all hooked up to monitors, from brain wave to heartbeat monitors. There were lines fed through their flesh that sent food into their bellies, and lines that took effluent from their bowels and bladder, leaving all of their other openings available for Remner’s choice of depravity. From the blood on the steel table beneath them, each woman or girl had been raped to the point of bleeding. There was one horrifying detail about every woman, each one of them had long hair dyed platinum blonde and every one of them had purple contacts in their wide open eyes.   
Rehtaeh was prepared to see this; none of it came as a surprise to her since she heard about it in great gory detail for six years. It didn’t make it any less horrifying. A person would need to be a soulless beast to remain unmoved by the sights in that warehouse. Everyone else had no idea what to expect, even though Rehtaeh had told them how bad it would be. They all thought she was exaggerating. “We have now come to the torture chambers of the “prepared” victims. Remner likes to keep the girls on the brink of death while he rapes and humiliates them until they die.”   
Heath growled in anger upon seeing Remner’s continued work. She agreed silently, it took everything within her not to run back the way she came and empty her stomach. She was feeling shaky and sick. This man told her he based this sick fantasy on her. He wanted to make these girls into her.   
“Beta, your feeds are flickering, check your unit for malfunction.” Tiller’s voice rang in her ear.  
“My fault. I uh- bumped a line.” Rehtaeh looked at Heath in desperation. She could barely hold herself together. He looked at her in frustration and just shook his head. She turned away and pushed her emotions deeper into her belly, feeding the beast the lived within her, fueling her rage towards Remner. He would pay for this. He would pay for each and every life he took.   
“Hold it together Beta. There is no time for this.” Heath barked at her she looked at her reflection in the glass and saw that her legs had completely disappeared, ‘What the Fuck?’ She took a deep breath and steadied herself and pulled her emotions back in. This was no time to allow emotions to take over. She could deal with this later.   
Rehtaeh allowed the camera and the computer on her arm to collect the evidence behind the glass walls, as she walked along. The computer was running through the missing persons database trying to find out who the women were and where they belonged. She knew that Remner kept countless logs that compiled everything on each woman he brought to one of his warehouses. She reached the end of the hallway and moved down the next one. There was nothing of interest in this hall, it was simply white lab walls that led into the massive experimentation bay that Remner liked to brag about.   
Sure enough when she reached the end of the hallway and turned she stepped into the main laboratory of the warehouse. There was a massive library of journals lining the left wall, as well as a long desk that held a multitude of lab equipment. Along the right wall was storage for anything from chemicals to lab animals, to a massive arrangement of sex toys. On the far wall were the doors that led to the cells where the “prepared” women were kept. In the center were three massive medical bays, two of which were occupied, while the third looked to be lying in wait for the next victim. Both of the victims on the beds were in a state of cryo. She stifled a sob as she realized that both of them were quite young, one was around Jack’s age, the other was no more than sixteen. Neither of them seemed to have any awareness of what had happened to them. There were needles everywhere and had a multitude of chemicals being pumped into their systems. Both of them had massive plugs embedded in their ‘holes’ to better prepare them for their later torture.   
Rehtaeh couldn’t do a report, it was too horrifying. This man had done unspeakable things to these women. Just gathering the evidence was overwhelming. She felt the rage building inside of her as she recalled Remner talking to her, and confiding in her about all of the experiments he was doing. Then he told her that she was his inspiration. During med school he came across her file in an old library, there were pictures and records of the oldest experiments they performed on her. He was fascinated by her ability to survive the tests they were doing since most people wouldn’t have been able to. His version of dirty magazines, were her medical pictures. She let the camera and the computer finish the work before she spoke. Her voice was low and raspy; she was overcome with pain and heartbreak for these women. “Can you send people in now? I think you have all you need for a conviction.”  
“Beta, we have people already in the building, and more waiting outside, they are gathering the evidence as we speak so the remains can be properly and respectfully cremated. Please move on to phase two. Remner has been found guilty of no less than one thousand three hundred and seventy five counts of Rape, Torture, Murder, and Desecration of a Body, Twenty two counts of Rape and torture and attempted murder which may be escalated to murder if any of the victims do not survive.” Tiller said over the com unit, her voice sounded weak, she had said all of that for the sake of protocol and for the sake of reports and court databases. “You are dismissed, please disengage. We have stopped recording you may go ahead Commandant.”  
“Rehtaeh,” The Commandant’s voice came over the line. “Your service and unfortunate knowledge to this case has been quite helpful. If you would like to share phase two with me, I would be more than happy to watch the sentencing. I want to see the sick fuck pay for what he did.”  
“Oh he will sir, I will make sure he pays for each and every woman.” Rehtaeh responded with a hard edge of venom in her voice. “Carolyn, come pick us up. We will prep for phase two.”   
It angered Rehtaeh that fucking Mercs were out there chasing Riddick around the universe, and people like Remner stayed safe at the edge of society. That would change soon.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34  
Rehtaeh  
Rehtaeh became angrier and angrier with every passing day. Her frustration grew out of the desire to destroy. She needed a distraction and the sooner the better, so she suggested to the others that they stop in at the main station. They used Heath and Carolyn’s names, so they wouldn’t be picked up by Remner’s hacking prowess. There was more than enough time to go to the main station, and stock up on all the supplies that they needed for the trip back.   
They each took turns going into town for some much needed downtime. Rehtaeh of course perused the weapons shops and looked for sunglasses that might suit her. She found nothing she liked. Everything on these stupid islands was geared towards tourists and she was not interested. Carolyn went in to talk to an actual doctor, who confirmed Rehtaeh’s suspicions and told them it was definitely triplets. Rehtaeh ordered an extra supply of nutrients knowing that as the babies got bigger they would need more and more of the supply. Heath and Carolyn remained in a state of shock for days, just trying to adapt to being a couple having a family.   
Two weeks passed before Remner was sighted on satellite feed returning to town. They geared back up and went back in. Rehtaeh and Heath repelled down from the ship and broke into the tiny studio apartment while Carolyn took the ship back out and waited over the water for the extraction. Rehtaeh surveyed the suite and found the man’s portable computer. She packed it up and put it inside her service pack; she would be in need of that later. Heath rifled through the place as well, looking for any other computer tech that they might find before he went back out to do a perimeter search. He took up a surveillance position outside and across the street, watching for Remner’s return to his apartment. It was deep into the night before Remner came home, bringing a piece of tail with him. The only positive of the whole situation was that she now had visual and audio confirmation that they had the right man.  
“Beta, target is incoming, I repeat you have incoming. Target has a companion. Beta, abort mission. Gamma, standby for instruction.” Heath’s voice called into her ear. She was about to go out the balcony as Remner and his guest came in the front door. He reset the alarm before she could unlock the screen.   
“Too late for abort, go into silence.” she whispered as she looked around for a place to hide. She had a needle of heavy sedatives ready in her hand for the opportune moment. Unfortunately Remner and his guest had carnal urges of their own and moved closer and closer to Rehtaeh leaving her no place to go. Rehtaeh cursed silently, she hid in the darkness under bed and tried not to gag and make noises of disgust as the couple went at it like rabbits. Heath and Carolyn kept a running commentary over the sounds that were coming from Rehtaeh’s com. They teased her relentlessly about loud sex and her expertise due to Riddick’s habit of making her scream.   
Remner and his lady friend spent two days going at it with Rehtaeh hiding deep in the shadows waiting until the woman finally left. It was approaching evening and the petite blonde’s husband was due back from his business trip that night, she wanted to be ready for him she sighed when Remner begged her to stay. Luckily they planned for the chance that they would have to go silent and wait the man out, but by the time the woman left Rehtaeh’s urine bag was nearly full and her platypus water bag was empty.  
Finally Remner was alone. He locked the door behind his guest, and then toured the suite setting his alarm system and turning out the lights. She waited for him in the darkness of his bedroom, thinking that he would be headed in that direction, but at the last moment he detoured into the bathroom and locked the door. She heard the shower start. She cursed and cursed again. She could hear him under the water, he seemed to be jacking off and he was calling her name, as though he were fucking her. ‘Really?’ she thought, ‘Like that would ever happen.’ The man was completely delusional.   
Heath and Carolyn couldn’t believe it either. After two days of almost nonstop sex, Remner still had the energy to jack off in the shower. Their running commentary stopped dead as they listened to the sick man fantasize about Rehtaeh. They waited for long moments in complete silence until finally the man came out of the shower. She dosed him before he even had a chance to see her. They had an hour before the drugs wore off and had a tiny window of time to get the man harnessed and pulled onto the ship, ready for his sentence.  
She made the call to Carolyn and Heath. “Beta to Alpha, I have target down, preparing for transport. Is ready point available for rendezvous?”  
Ready point was the front door. She would need Heath’s muscle to help her move Remner’s body. Since she hadn’t eaten anything for two days she was feeling weak. She was lucky that they went prepared with the platypus with water.   
She had the disgusting job of getting the Doctor into a harness so she could transport him to the ship without Carolyn having to land the ship. With the man still naked after his shower, Rehtaeh was the one who had to maneuver the harness around his privates and touch his pasty flesh. She considered dressing the man, but that would only leave more evidence of her presence in the suite. The only thing that was keeping her undetectable at the moment was the gear she was wearing. She was ensured that she didn’t lose any hair or fibers in the carpets, and her gloves made sure that she left no prints. She even repacked the syringe that she used to dose the man. She left nothing behind and hauled Remner to the front door.   
“Negative. Ready Point is compromised. Beta, you have incoming.” Heath said quietly into his com device. “Top Brass, are you getting feed?”  
“Affirmative Alpha. We are receiving transmission. We are running a search now.” Tiller came back over the line. ‘Shit, ain’t this just fucking peachy?’ Rehtaeh thought, she was a sitting duck in here and there was an enemy at the gates.   
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. “Doctor Remner? Are you home? Doctor Remner?”  
She pulled the man’s prone body to the void behind the door, where they couldn’t be seen from the windows. She had just gotten him to the safe zone when a flash light swept over the room from the outside. Heath whispered in her ear piece, “Beta, this is Alpha. Back off for all clear. Do you read, Beta?”  
“Copy that, Alpha.” She whispered back into her com device.   
Her heart was racing as she did a quick visual check, it was two men Aguerra Military Force at the door and they were not making to leave. From the looks of it, they were looking to make entry. Shit, they were part of the Alliance, she couldn’t attack them or parole would be forfeit, she needed to get out. There was a balcony off the bedroom, perhaps she could get him out that way.   
“Confirmation on identity,” Tiller spoke over the com feed, “There is no approved activity in this sector scheduled for tonight. These are rogue units. Move to plan Omega.”  
Rehtaeh hauled the man’s dead weight up and lifted him on to her shoulders, then she waited for a break in the passes of flash lights and ran for it. “Hey Jonsey! Did you see that?”  
“See what?” Jonsey responded to the first man.  
“I thought I saw something.” The first man said in irritation, Jonsey had obviously not seen the same thing. “You really think Furya is gonna come after him?”  
“Ops says she is already on planet. We just have to wait her out.” Jonsey told him.  
“If Alliance finds out we took her out for her Hit fee, we are dead men.” The first man said, he was hesitating and her team all heard the evidence that these men were dirty.   
“We hear them Beta. We will deal with them later. Just go with plan Omega,” The Commandant commanded her.  
“Copy that, Top Brass.” She whispered in return.   
“Entry on five. Four.” The rogue Alliance men started their count down. Rehtaeh had made it to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She had no time, if she opened the patio door, the alarm would set off, unless she waited for them to make entry. “Three.” It would give her no time to make a clean get away with her captive. Regardless she had to try. She adjusted the weight on her shoulders, and made ready by the patio door, unlocking the latch. “Two.”   
She clicked her com and whispered, “Gamma, this is Beta. We go port side, plan Omega.”   
Her hand was on the handle waiting for the alarm to beep. “One.” She held her breath and gathered her feet under her, there could be no more changes to the plan.   
“Copy that.” Carolyn returned, Rehtaeh could hear her maneuvering the ship to the new rendezvous point. There was the beep, and she heard feet in the suite. Rehtaeh, slid the door open silently and hauled Remner’s unconscious body to the farthest end of the balcony, keeping him in the shadows. She lowered the man as far as she could over the balcony rail before dropping him unceremoniously into the flower beds below. ‘I am a shadow. I am shadow. I am a shadow.’ She kept repeating it in her head.  
She had one leg over the railing when the captain of the platoon stepped on the balcony. She met his eyes and he flashed his light back and forth in her direction. It was like he couldn’t see her. He stepped out on to the balcony and headed in her direction. She needed to move and fast, she swung her other leg over and it caught on the rail. She fell. She hit hard. Her urine bag on her thigh burst open and the cooled liquid ran down her leg creating a mess and a scent and DNA trial. ‘Ah! Fuck! Like I really needed that!’ She had no time. She hauled Remner back onto her shoulders and ran between the buildings. There was a small green space five hundred yards to the left of Remner’s apartment. Five minutes to the secondary exit point and she had men after her. Unburdened men. While she was carrying eighty kilos of dead weight on her shoulders. She had no choice. She had to make it. She ran full tilt, as though she had a bio-raptor on her tail. If any thought could make her run, it was that one. Especially considering that she could not attack these men without Tiller’s approval.   
The ship and the rope were there, Heath was already on board steadying the winch as Carolyn kept the ship steady. Rehtaeh hooked Remner’s harness up and she called the go ahead to Heath over her com. She grabbed the rope and held on as Heath engaged the winch. Carolyn lifted off, leaving her and Remner dangling off the back end of the ship like chum behind a trawler.   
Rehtaeh started climbing the cable above Remner’s body wanting to get to the hatch as quickly as she could. There were gun shots in their direction and Rehtaeh felt the burning graze on her left shoulder, but she kept climbing and finally hauled herself over the edge of the hatch as Carolyn pulled the ship out of range. Heath stopped the tow winch when the naked doctor dangled only a foot or so under the ramp. Together they pulled him onto the ship and closed the hatch. Once he was on the platform she gave him the once over. A bullet wound to the foot, but other than that he was still breathing, and still unconscious. They hauled him in and closed the hatch. “We are a go, Gamma. Get us away.”  
The ship jerked and Rehtaeh’s stomach heaved with the motion of the ship. Somehow she was able to hold the bile down as the ship took off through the pinpoint exit from the atmosphere. Heath helped her strap Remner into a chair in the air lock and then went to shower and change from his soiled gear. She used the second bathroom and did the same. When she finally felt clean again, she dressed in shorts and a tank top, disposables. She pulled her hair up, pushed a pair of computer screen glasses over her eyes and adjusted the headset she would be wearing. The glasses were engineered to pick up video from the room around her as well as relay text information to Rehtaeh. She would need this feature for sentencing Remner. The headset was for communications with Top Brass. Tiller and the Commandant were both going to be monitoring the sentencing. In fact they approved her suggestion for punishment and death. Over top she slipped into a disposable hazmat suit, which included a facemask and hood, as well as plastic foot covers and long sterile gloves. She would be destroying the clothes later in the incinerator when the dirty work was done.  
She checked with Tiller and the Commandant to ensure they were receiving both video and audio feed and they ensured her that the equipment was working. Carolyn had already prepped the airlock with drop sheets and splatter sheets so that the room itself would be unremarkable in any way. She told Heath and Carolyn that they were not to enter the airlock for any reason. They were not to try to look inside, and they were to find some distraction from whatever they might hear.   
On either side of Remner’s chair she placed a foldable table. On one side she had his computer set up. It was a full panel computer. She was certain that it was the one that he used to set up his hit on her. She fixed the chair he was sitting in so that his ‘package’ would dangle through a small hole she cut into the seat. Once his bits were arranged, she wrapped an elastic band around them and tied the band to the underside of the chair. There were four more elastic bands stretching from the one around his junk to the feet of the chair, if he tried to hop away from her, he would be in for a nasty surprise. This ensured that regardless of whether his hands got free, he would stay stationary for fear of losing his privates. It would be painful, this was ensured. The added bonus, if he didn’t tell her what she wanted to know within a day’s time, he would be guaranteed to lose all that made him think he was a man.  
This was a two part plan. The first part was to get Remner to remove the hit that he put on her and to steal his codes so that she could hack his computer for more evidence. The second part was to exact the price for taking and torturing so many innocent women. She was trained for this; she knew the best ways to get information out of people, sometimes without pain and sometimes with pain.   
She was unrolling her ‘cut and file’ bag on a table near his chair when he finally came to. She didn’t turn to watch him, didn’t acknowledge him in any way. It took him several minutes to come to complete awareness, and as he did he started to struggle, he went so far as to lift the front left foot of his chair. She heard the snap and his scream was like music to Rehtaeh’s ears. It sounded like the one in her head when he had taken marrow from her femur without using any anesthetics. She remembered him creating the hole with a long hollow needle and then with a scope drill he took what he wanted, she silently screamed for days with the pain. Doc May saw the blood on her thigh the following day and treated the wound, she must have reported it, because it was the last straw before suddenly Remner was no longer showing up at the Cryo Lab.   
“You dirty whore! What is the meaning of this? Who are you?”Remner screamed in pain. Rehtaeh picked up a long hollow needle along with a suction tube and a scope drill. She would force him to remember who she was. She moved behind him and knelt beside his left hip. She positioned the needle and slowly pushed it in deep and unrelenting as he screamed in pain. He jerked only once before he realized that his own movement was making the pain that much worse. Then she sent in the drill and the scope, taking sample after sample, as she listened to his screams. Finally she pulled out the scope and drill, and then the needle she waited for several minutes until his cries for help subsided.   
“I suppose you wouldn’t know who I am, would your Remner? You have never heard my voice. Never heard my screams.” Rehtaeh whispered softly to him as she moved back to the table. She was almost crooning, cajoling him. She was being super sweet. “No. You would not know me, not unless I show you my face.”  
“Rehtaeh!” Remner’s eyes lit up manically, he was overjoyed to see her. She could just imagine that he figured his finest fantasies were coming true. “I knew you would come for me. I knew you were awake the entire time. Those other idiots had no clue. I just knew you wanted me as much as I wanted you.”   
She held up a sharp scalpel so he could see it, then ‘tut tutting’ to herself she put it back down and reached for another smaller sharper scalpel, purposely letting him see the instruments that she intended to use on him. “Shall we see how long it takes for you to figure out exactly what it is I want from you, Remner? Perhaps I will just stand over here in the shadows and wait for you to realize what I want from you. If you can figure it out in let’s say five minutes, I might consider releasing you. Especially if you give me what I want without coercion of any kind. If you take any longer though, if I have to draw blood again, your chances of survival will become slim to none.”   
She slipped into the shadows behind him and skirted the room, staying in the confines of the darkness. He was listening for her behind him as he started struggling with his bindings. He tried lifting himself out of the chair and screamed in pain as he realized that his manhood was being pulled in the opposite direction of where he wanted to go. His time was ticking swiftly away, and he was wasting it by struggling against knots that even Riddick would have a hard time getting out of and he was a professional escape artist.  
“Stay out of the shadows Beta, you keep dropping the live feed.” Tiller called over the com unit. ‘How was that even possible?’ she wondered to herself.  
“Two minutes left, Remner.” Rehtaeh whispered softly. “Are you sure you want to waste your time trying to escape, when you have an easy out sitting right beside you?”  
His head whipped around to where her voice had come from, but she was already on the move. Then he looked at the computer, his brow furrowed in concentration. He was thinking hard. He wasn’t sure exactly where she was. How deep did his little rabbit hole go? How many people had he set up for a hit? What else exactly was he into? “One minute.” She was goading him now, her voice came out a little harsher, a little darker. He was not gagged, so he started talking, pleading with her.   
“Who says I want to take the hit off you, Rehtaeh?” Remner taunted her, she remembered his voice clearly; it grated heavily on her nerves. He was the type of person who teased tortured and taunted his prey. He became vindictive and angry when he didn’t get what he wanted. When Doctor May was promoted and he was not, he treated her like shit from that moment on. When was pulled off her case, he snuck back in and molested her, in anger and in spite. She wondered how well he could take his own medicine.  
“Because you read my file, you know my history. You spent six years discovering my body, six years touching what was not yours. Six years telling me of your sick fantasies as you touched places that were forbidden to you. Six years describing your depravity and about the little operation you had going on in New Pappa. But how well do you really know me?” She whispered, she allowed all of her rage to make it husky, guttural, animalistic. He had never heard her voice before, it was at odds of the Voodoo Doll that he imagined her to be. Confusion crossed his face, and he started to struggle again in renewed fear. “Time’s up Remner, I guess this means that I get to exact six years worth of revenge on you and your body. Unless you give me the codes to my Merc files and remove the hit you placed on me.”  
“Voodoo! Please!” He gasped as he realized that his fantasies were not coming true. “Aguerra Prime has strict extradition laws, I legally can’t be taken from there, and I am an Alliance Employee! You are breaking the law! You will go back to prison.”  
“Oh, but Remner, that is not true. If you look into your file, you will find that all of your status has been revoked. None of your keys to the kingdom will work anymore. And if you look into mine you will see that I am legally not bound or restricted by that clause when it comes to you. As for prison, I am exempt from going back to prison for the next four hundred years, considering I have already done my time.” Rehtaeh stepped out of the shadows to stand before him. Laughing as his eyes widened when he saw the hazmat mask that covered her face. “You have two minutes before I start wedging bamboo under your toenails. Or maybe I will just pull your nails right off. So many ways to cause pain to the human body, Remner, and out here in the middle of deep space, I got all the time in the world.”  
“I don’t mind if you hurt me Rehtaeh. I have been dreaming of this day for years. The day you come for me.” He changed tactics again, trying to make her submit to his madness. She moved the computer in front of him, so that he could reach the screens. He didn’t make a move to touch the machine; he just stared at it in amusement. “Did you find them? The dolls that I made for you? Did you find my trophies?”  
“Is that what you thought I wanted, Remner? Did you think that I was even remotely interested in playing your games?” Rehtaeh smiled feral and wild, her tone was dark and dangerous. “I think it’s time to step this up a bit. Which foot should I start with?”   
“You wouldn’t hurt me, Rehtaeh. We had so much fun together, My Darling Voodoo Doll.” Remner denied shaking his head with a smile. A chill ran up her spine as he used the pet name he gave her. Rehtaeh reached her table and picked up a sliver of bamboo. She would peal his toe nails off with the bamboo, one at a time. She knelt before him and aligned the bamboo sliver with the underside of his nail on his big toe.   
“Oh, but I would hurt you, and you know it or you would have never put the hit on me. Now you are going to turn on your computer. Come on now. Be a Darling and turn it on.” She whispered softly to him, again he stalled, so she started pushing the sliver in under the nail, slowly torturously, millimeter by millimeter. He screamed for several minutes until he started getting used to the pain. She held up the next one, her glass covered face looking directly into his fear filled one and proceeded to do the same with the next toe. “Which toe should I do next Remner? Or would you like me to stop? If you start your computer, I will move on, to something much less painful.”  
He started the machine and entered his passwords. He went all the way to the Merc file center before he regained his courage, and wouldn’t go any further. “Are you certain you want to stop there, Remner? If you had removed the hit, this would already be over and you would no longer be in any pain.”   
“You are so much more than I thought you would be. I knew you would be feisty, your files said that you were a super soldier, but I had no idea you could be so icy.” Remner taunted her again, trying to get under her skin, and distract her from her task. He was goading her on purpose. “I wanted to have you so badly, and nearly took what I wanted a few times. The only thing that stopped me from taking you the way I wanted was that your Hymen was intact. I always wanted to know, how did they take your eggs without breaking your Hymen?”  
“Would you like me to tell you Remner?” Rehtaeh chuckled darkly, as she remembered his hands on her body, spreading her. The coldness as he sampled her, and examined her vaginal area as though he were some sort of gynecologist. Her rage grew as she remembered the violation. “No, I think I should show you. I will show you and then you will remove the hit.”  
She took out a long coring needle, knelt before him and punctured it into his belly button. He tried not to cry out in pain. The doctors had not used anesthetic on her, so she was not going to use it on him either. Then she pushed a tiny scope through the needle and proceeded to move it around his bowels down, down, down, until she found the slightly constricted area where the elastic was wrapped around his sack. His eyes widened in horror as he felt the scope moving around inside of his lower abdomen, getting closer and closer to his precious manhood. Once she knew where she was going, she added a long basket-like tool to the hollow feed from the scope. Once it reached the end it popped out and she was able to see the scoop headed directly towards his sacs. “Which side would you like to keep Remner? Left or Right? This particular basket is meant more for removing kidney stones. But your nuts are fairly small, it might actually fit in the basket. So which will it be?”  
“You wouldn’t!” Remner cried out in pain. She met his eyes levelly, there must have been something in them that told him that she was not interested in negotiating. That he picked the wrong target.   
“Left or Right, Remner?” She whispered, as she pushed the scope deeper, nudging up against something. He screamed at the contact. “If you want me to stop, enter the first sequence of passwords, and start removing my hit.”  
“I only wanted them to be like you. You were so perfect. I only tried to duplicate what the Alliance did to you. They were not as strong. When they failed I had to punish them. I had to punish them for their weakness.” He whined as he followed her command, the threat of removing his precious balls had more motivation than anything else. She reveled in the power for just a moment as she thought about the six years of torment that he had forced on her. She thought of the torture that he put the other girls through and she knew that this sick fuck would never truly get the concept of guilt or remorse. She waited for him to enter the sequence before she pulled the surgical tools out of his abdomen. She placed them on the table and picked up her next instruments of torture. She approached him with a scalpel and a fillet knife. His eyes widened in horror. “What are you going to do now?”  
“Well I was thinking that since you really seem to think you have a tough skin, I would help you take it off.” Rehtaeh spoke calmly and gently, using a voice like the one your mother would use when you did something sweet for her. “Wouldn’t that be nice? I can start at your head or your feet. Strip by strip would be the best way to go, I think. I really like that idea, don’t you?”  
“Yes, yes,” he nodded until she chuckled darkly and moved towards him. Then he realized that she was offering to skin him alive. “No, no! Please, no! I will remove the hit. Please Voodoo. Please.”  
“Hop to it, Darling, I want to be able to release you. I am not really a fan of all this blood and gore stuff.” She gentled her voice again, playing at being docile. He worked at the computer, for several minutes. She watched him over his shoulder as he brought up several screens for passwords there were nine in total and he used three different pass words in a specific sequence. She watched every move that he made on his computer. She took it all in. The lenses of her glasses recorded every single keystroke. She was glad that she opened the computer earlier and set up key stroke recorder so that nothing would be missed. She waited until he sat back, proud of himself.   
“All done. It is removed.” Remner smiled up at her turning his head to look at her as she stood behind him.  
“And you want me to believe you?” Rehtaeh looked at him hard. Her voice had steel in it.   
“Well yes! I swear the hit has been removed! Call someone at the Alliance, they can verify it for you.” He was beginning to sound very desperate.   
“Top Brass, do we have verification of removal?” Rehtaeh called over her com unit.   
“You have All Clear; you may disengage and proceed with sentencing.” Tiller called back to her in her ear. Rehtaeh pulled the computer away from the man in the chair, rolling his computer into the main cabin of the ship. Then she did the same with the other little table, leaving her unused instruments in their bag. The rest she dropped into a jar of acid so she could destroy the evidence.  
When she came back into the room, she carried a large bucket of ‘Slow Pain Balm’ hooked into the crook of her elbow and she held only her fillet knife and the whet stone and started sharpening the blade as she spoke. “Doctor Charles Remner you have been found guilty of no less than one thousand three hundred and ninety seven counts of Rape, Torture, and Murder. Thanks to the information you provided to our star witness, Rehtaeh Furya, we were able to recover all of the evidence required to convict and sentence you for your crimes. Do you have any last words before your sentence is carried out?”  
“You double crossing bitch! You said you would stop! I will kill you for this!” Remner screamed at the top of his lungs as he struggled in his chair. The chair hopped and all three remaining bands snapped hard against his bared balls. He screamed in torment.   
“I think not Remner.” Rehtaeh told him quietly. The human part of her didn’t want to do this to him. She had never had to use this particular training before and she was finding that she really didn’t have the stomach for it. The other side, the animal side, however, did want to see him scream for every girl he had killed. Not one of the girls they found in the warehouse had survived. Every one of them was too far gone. “The Alliance chose me for this task specifically because of the torment you put me through while under your ‘care’, the information you told me was very important for them to solve this case, but it has caused me a lot of grief. I will hold this against you for a very long time. I hope you have made peace with your maker.”  
She stepped up to him and started at his ankle. She carefully cut into the flesh, just enough to peel back the fine layer of skin he had covering his fat and muscle tissue. As she pulled back the skin, she applied the ‘Slow Pain Balm’ to his bared flesh. It was a thick gel like substance, contrary to its name it did not slow pain. It slowed bleeding and created pain the intention was obvious. It was used to cause huge amounts of pain, and impede the death of the subject. Her knife was sharpened to razor sharpness so she knew that these first few cuts Remner wouldn’t feel, this was the other reason she was using the balm. He needed to feel the pain. Oddly enough she knew how to skin a creature quite effectively. Her father taught her how to skin game when they went out on hunting trips as a family. She was actually quite skilled. She just never thought she would be doing it to a human monster.  
She painstakingly peeled strip after strip off of his body, reading the victim list as it came up in her glasses. Speaking the name of a victim, her date of birth and the date of her death as recorded by Remner fortified her. It reminded her why she was doing this to him. Each strip was an inch wide and four inches long. She would take off one strip for each and every one of his victims. The animal side reveled at this torment, taking revenge for everything and everyone he killed. His screams rang out long and loud for the first hour that she cut into him. She was at strip two hundred thirty eight when she reached his hips, his screams had died to whimpers but started anew as she began to work on his hands and arms.   
“You are a monster!” He yelled at her in pain. Her human side rose up again and she fought back the bile in her throat, once again thankful that she had not eaten anything for the past two days. The animal rose again and quashed her pity as she thought of the jars they had found and their horrifying contents. She thought of the women that he had tormented for weeks and months on end. She thought of the chemical and sexual experimentation he had done on each one of them. Some of the girls had been as young as ten, others as old as fifty six. With these thoughts she carried on. Naming the victims with each strip of flesh that she painstakingly removed from his body allowed her to justify the torment that she was causing to this monster.   
“I am no where as near as bad as you are, Remner. I will feel remorse for doing this to you. You feel only pride and arousal at the horrible things that you did to those girls.” Rehtaeh told him quietly.  
She finished the job in silence, trying to detach herself from the horrible thing she was doing, speaking the names as she ignored the screams and whimpers coming from the man in the chair. She would never be able to sleep again. “One thousand, Three hundred, Ninety Seven strips of flesh for each victim you have killed. Remner you have given your pound of flesh for the crimes you have committed. Alliance do you confirm that payment for all of the victims have been collected?”  
“Confirmed, Beta, all victims are accounted for. You may proceed with execution.” Tiller’s voice came over the com unit.   
“You are in luck, Remner. I have been given the go ahead to release you.” There was a flicker of hope in his eyes as he looked up at her. She looked at his body, the fleshless fat and muscle with the layers of gel that kept him from bleeding to death. Even if she let him walk away, he would die within days from sepsis. Her gloved hands and plastic covered feet were covered in blood from his flesh. She placed the fillet knife in a small glass bottle of acid and together they watched as the liquid turned the metal into sludge, destroying all of the evidence of her torture of him. She removed all of the drop sheets that covered the walls and took them to the incinerator, which was located in the airlock, leaving only the plastic sheet that was attached to the floor. She came back and snapped the rubber band once as she bungled her first attempt at removing the torture device. She felt the adrenaline and rage that fueled her starting to ebb away and cursed inwardly as her hands began to shake.   
Unhooking the plastic sheet, she pulled it up and wrapped it around Remner ignoring his protests as she contained his mess. She left only one corner of the plastic on the ground and stripped down to nothing making sure that not a shred of blood dropped onto the ships floor. Once she was nude she dumped all of the blood covered evidence into the incinerator, she pulled on a new pair of gloves and closed the plastic around Remner’s pleading body. Then she ensured that everything else in the air lock was completely locked up tight so that they wouldn’t lose anything important. She walked out leaving Remner in the chair wrapped in his plastic cocoon, calling out for her in terror. “You said you would let me go! Rehtaeh, please have mercy!”  
“I said I would release you, Dr. Remner, I didn’t say where.” She engaged the main cabin locks and waited for the seal to adjust tight, then she hit the switch for the air lock door. Remner was sucked out into deep space and just meters behind the ship she watched through the thick glass as her tormentor imploded in the gasless atmosphere his blood and gore and remains stayed contained within the plastic wrapping. Leaving a large nest egg of remains swirling into the deadness of the universe, to be pulled into the orbit of some star system, and incinerated on entrance into an atmosphere. Little strips of flesh escaped the egg and floated around his plastic covered remains like strands of confetti celebrating the death of a most vile and decrepit creature.   
“We have stopped recording Rehtaeh, are you okay?” Tiller asked softly.  
Rehtaeh looked at the floating remains for a long moment; her voice was choked as she whispered. “I may never be okay again, Farah.”  
She turned off the glasses and the com unit tossing them onto the rolling table beside Remner’s computer. She closed the hatch, waited for the atmosphere to return to normal and reopened the portal. She took several cleaners with her and washed away all traces of evidence that the man was ever there. Finally she had her second shower, meticulously sterilized the bathroom and drains and dressed in her worn jeans and a red jersey tee.   
She stayed at the back of the ship for a long moment sitting in the darkness allowing the adrenaline to ebb away and the emotional upheaval take her away. She sobbed silently, glad that Remner was dead, and yet horrified at what she did to him. Was she a monster, did she become what Remner was? Part of her enjoyed the pain that she caused him, it wanted to take over and she fought it every step of the way. It could have been so much worse. What would it take for her to lose control? What if that beast within her hurt someone she loved? It took her several minutes to compose herself before she joined Carolyn and Heath at the console, taking her place in the co-pilot seat. Heath put a heavy hand on her shoulder before moving to strap himself into a cryo bed.   
She stared off into space for several minutes before Carolyn looked at her and asked gently, “Are you going to be okay Rehtaeh?”  
“I don’t know. On one hand I am relieved he is gone, and on the other I am terrified that I have turned into the same kind of monster that he was.” She whispered. She stripped a man from his flesh as he screamed and screamed for her to have mercy. She had given him none.   
“Did you enjoy what you did Rehtaeh?” Carolyn asked her next. “Did you get off torturing him and exacting his penance?”   
“I never want to do that ever again.” Rehtaeh shuddered at the thought. She turned and looked up at the other woman. She realized that she didn’t really answer the question. Yes, part of her rejoiced in every moment of the slow kill. There was no way she could ever tell anyone the truth. “It was the most horrible and vile thing I have ever done. I know I have killed in the past, I will probably do so again, but it has always been for my survival or for others. It has always been while under attack. Never like this.”   
Her stomach rolled violently and she ran for the bathroom, it didn’t matter that she had nothing in her stomach. She barely reached the toilet before she retched thick slimy green bile into the receptacle. She dry heaved after that for several long minutes. Finally she cleaned out her mouth, washed her face and hands and went back to the bridge.  
“I am certain that you are no more a monster today, than you were yesterday.” Carolyn assured her as she sat back down. She didn’t respond, she just buckled into the co-pilot seat and worked with Carolyn as they punched in the coordinates for New Mecca. They were in a ghost lane and needed to get the hell out of Dodge before they were caught by pirates or another blasted Merc ship. They were flying Alliance colors, but that was never a guarantee for safe passage through parts like this and she didn’t want to push her tiny stretch of luck. As it was, they still had Toombs to deal with, along with any hit men out there who had not yet gotten the memo.  
Carolyn put the Ion Drives on pushing them forward at accelerated speed then she strapped into her cryo bed. She wanted to get home to Jack. Rehtaeh followed suit. Now that she was relatively safe, she could go home and start a new life. She contemplated that for a moment, before it hit her that whatever she did where ever she went her life would be empty without Him. Would he want this monster she was becoming? Would he want this evil darkness that was consuming her?


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35  
Riddick  
He talked himself out of turning back no less than ten times. His need for her was getting to the point of a bad addiction. He didn’t even make to the UV system and he was going through withdrawal. He tried to sleep in cryo, and found himself thinking about her. Dreaming about Her. It wasn’t safe for them to stay together. It was the only thought that drove him to continue to his destination.  
He finally arrived and took all the supplies that he could possibly carry with him, the average temperature on UV 6 was between -40 and -60 degrees Celsius, and that was on a warm day. He needed to hide the ship, find shelter and then find food, in that order. The first part was easy there were several deep crevasses that were both wide and deep enough that he could land the ship and it would remain unseen.  
The second part was a little more difficult. There were a ton of caves available from what he could see, but he also had to consider what might be living in them. He needed one that would offer protection from the elements and also hold the heat for when he started a hearth fire. He scouted out three possible caves that would work for him all of which were currently occupied by some creature or another. He went in for further investigation and found the first two were too small to utilize effectively, no point in even bothering with them, other than killing the animals for food. The third and most ideal was occupied by a pair of massive cat-like beasts.   
He would have to take down the duo of cats, which would help him with task number three. Foraging for food. Beasts like those would give him enough food to last a while as well as bones large enough to make tools and pelts to use for bedding and clothing. They looked like they were nesting, neither beast ever left the cave for long, yet neither creature showed signs of having had any young recently. ‘They must be a newly mated pair,’ he thought as he moved in to the cave looking over his new digs. At least it would be as soon as he evicted the current occupants.  
The cave was actually carcass of a massive sea creature that must have petrified in the massive glacial walls centuries ago. Its sharp teeth, rows upon rows of them lined the walls of the entrance for several feet. They would create a natural deterrent for other creatures. The thick skin of the creature offered even more insulation and protection from the elements, having once been supple skin and then later petrified into stone made the walls almost impenetrable. The glacier that surrounded it on the outside would offer even more insulation and would hold the heat and provide fresh water. He moved deeper into the cave and found an ideal spot where he could make his bed off to the left. There was a natural dip in the center that could be built up to make a decent fire ring, the far wall looked like a good place to store his weapons cashe, and there was a free wall available where he could map out the area.   
He pushed up his goggles and put down the bow, and the cache of arrows that Rehtaeh had given him. There would be no need for them since this coming fight would be in close quarters. He discarded some of the heavy gear he had taken out of the ship before ditching it in the bottom of a shaft. The ship was far enough to keep the Mercs from finding him too easily, and close enough that he could forage whatever materials he might need later on. He moved deeper into the cave were he found the beasts making their lair.  
He heard their warning growls before he even got close. The larger of the two padded forward on silent paws, their eyes flashing in the darkness, teeth bared the creature snarled. It was a large catlike creature with iridescent green eyes, and short rounded ears. He suspected that the majority of its massive white bulk was mostly thick fur that would allow it to survive such a harsh climate. It’s most impressive feature was its long razor sharp canine teeth that on both upper and lower jaws came up over its glossy black lips.  
He pulled out his shiv and prepared for a fight. He didn’t have to wait long, he was hunting and there was only one way this could go. Riddick waited for the beast to pounce, it went straight for his head and neck. Riddick slashed out with his shiv into its vulnerable underbelly slicing it up from one end to the other. The massive beast collapsed on top of him, its clawed paws contracting around him for several seconds as its heart stopped and its brain and nervous system realized that it was mortally wounded.   
The female came next, but she stayed low to the ground, shoulders hunched. She was going to go for his legs. She was not a stupid beast, she just saw her mate killed in an overhead attack, so she was going to go low. This was fine with Riddick, they did say that the females of the species were usually the more cunning as they were always on the defense. He couldn’t stop the thought that this was true of Rehtaeh, more cunning than any other human female he had ever met. He shook the thoughts away and focused on the Long Tooth Cat. It prowled around him slowly trying to back him out of the cave. She was herding him away like a sheep dog or penning animal. She lunged when he didn’t move fast enough for her liking and took a swat at his legs, her growl low and deep in her throat. He jumped over her paw, moving deeper into the cave. She roared in anger at him.  
He slashed out with his own knife, aiming for the tip of her nose, trying to goad her into acting. She snapped at his moving hand and rose for a half a second on her back legs hopping back and away as her other paw lashed out at him. She hit his knife hand with her paw, and snarled viciously when the blade bit into the tough pad. The injury angered her and made her realize that her hunter had teeth of his own. She lunged again, going for his legs, and again he leapt away from her. Another whining snarl left her throat as she lunged again, this time her paws went around his waist, knocking him back. Her long teeth in her snapping jaws snapped at the heavy jacket he was wearing. She snagged a chunk of fabric and the material made a horrendous rending noise as it was shredded away.  
He lashed out at her throat as she tried to tear open his chest, the jacket taking the brunt of the damage. She roared once more as his shiv finally broke the tough flesh of her throat and her jugular burst open, her hot red blood spraying all over his face in bursting arterial spray. Her body jerked above him as she tried to get away, realizing that he was not simple prey. There was too much blood loss though and her body finally jerked to a stop and he watched her iridescent green eyes begin to gray with death. He pushed her off of him and check for his own damage.   
He had been quite lucky. He was wearing several heavy layers. The outermost had been jacket made of a windproof, waterproof , breathable fabric. He had been happily surprised that such out dated tech had been so completely efficient at keeping him warm in the weather of UV6. The heavy coat had once been Rehtaeh’s fathers. It was one of three such jackets he had taken from the man’s closet before Rehtaeh had unceremoniously thrown everything else into a massive plastic trash receptacle. She was adamant that if he or one of the other men in the house didn’t want the clothes then she was not going to keep them. She had no use for any of it.   
Luckily the large cat only destroyed his top layer. He knew that the conditions were going to be harsh, he would need pelts for clothes. These polyester fabrics would not last long if he was going to be doing a lot of hunting. He looked at the dead beasts and got to work. He used the back half of the cave where the cats had died as his curing and tanning room. He needed a food storage area and decided this would be it. He found a way to hook both of the beasts to the roof of the cave and set to work, skinning them and then cutting and curing the meat. Being on his own for so long, he knew how to use every part of his prey until there was nothing left.  
Over the next few days he explored the area around his cave, becoming more and more pleased with his choice of location. The ice gave him an ample supply of water, so he knew he would never go without. Less than a kilometer away he found a massive ice cave that had somehow created a sort of greenhouse effect for the local flora. He was able to forage dry burnable materials for a fire as well as found some edible fruits and root vegetables. He also started watching the pack animals and herds that lived in the area, Urzos were the most abundant of these. Riddick monitored their cycles of movements so that he could track and hunt them and they moved through in regular cycles.   
Using the long bow he took from Rehtaeh’s weapons vault he successfully hunted a white-back lupine. It took him a few shots and two lost arrows but he got a hang of the weapon quickly. After hunting with it a few more times, he began to understand Rehtaeh’s draw to the weapon. It was calming to be holding the bow, the arrow nocked and ready, waiting for his prey to come into range. He could hear, see and smell the beast, his heart would beat in time they would breathe almost in unison. It was intense to be that intimate with another creature. He had to wait for the target to present itself and finally he increased the tension on the bowstring and loosed the arrow. He hauled the lupine back to his cave and set about cleaning it and used the jaw bone to make a handle for a blade that he needed to repair; he added the pelt to his growing number.   
There was one massive beast that he wanted to bring down. It looked like a mammoth of some sort, a trunk and massive tusks. It would provide him with several weeks’ worth of meat and the pelt would be large enough to make a large sling bed for the frame that he had already strapped together. Not to mention the large bones that he could use for weapons and dishes and tools.   
He tracked it for days. Watching its movements, he noticed that it came through his valley every fourteen days or so. He planned to use the bow for this kill; he hoped that the arrows were sharp enough to penetrate its thick skin. The last of the meat from the Long Tooth cats was in a sling on his back, dried and cold so that it would not leave a traceable scent. He had the lupine and an Urso back in the cave curing, but hunting this beast was more for the pelt and bones than it was the meat. Besides it was when he hunted that he felt both closest and farthest from Her. It was when he could honor the hunter that she was and he could think of her as something other than the lover that he left behind. It was at times like this that he remembered the fierce warrior that she was on Hades hunting down bio-raptors as he guided the sand cat through the desert.   
He moved into position, getting low, he nocked the arrow and increased the tension as the massive animal moved closer. He waited for hours for this moment, the moment that the mammoth would present its chest to him. He pulled back and let the arrow fly, it was a perfect shot, going right where he meant it to go, until the fucking beast moved its head. The arrow embedded deep into its face in the thick muscle just under the eye. The creature screamed in shock and pain and started running at a gallop straight towards him. If he didn’t move quick he was going to be trampled. It was two hundred meters away and closing, He nocked another arrow, drew back, centered himself, aimed and released. The animal dropped its head in defense but this time there was luck on Riddick’s side. The arrow hit it’s eye, going deep into its thick skull. It stopped immediately and began to buck and flail around wildly, trying to get the offending object off of its face.   
One more try, he nocked the arrow, pulled the string aimed and let it go. Finally the arrow struck true, a chest shot going straight for the heart of the beast. He rose and ran at the massive creature, it wasn’t dead yet, but it was in pain and Riddick was a hunter, not heartless. The mammoth seeing Riddick coming at him tried to back away, toward one of the massive crevasses. That was the last thing that Riddick wanted so he switched directions and herded the massive animal towards his cave. To put it out of its misery he had to get closer, but he was not going to risk losing it in one of the massive canyons that riddled the terrain. It was slow and bleeding heavy. With every step Riddick took it would take one backwards until finally there was only glacier wall behind it and there was nowhere else to go.   
Riddick pounced on it, he grabbed the shaft of the arrow in its chest pushed it deeper into the chest cavity, doing as much damage to the lungs and heart that he could and then pulled it back out. Blood pumped out in thick heavy waves while Riddick stayed by the great beast and waited for its final breaths. It didn’t take long. The damage to its heart was severe.   
Months later he reflected back on his time on the UV planet. He had changed to adapt to the planet, he let his hair grow out creating little personal insulation. The majority of the manmade clothing he brought had long since been destroyed by hard use. Only the boots, the cargos and the tanks that they had bought at the expensive store at the transport station were in decent repair, and he had a few spares for when the ones he was wearing became too worn down. Otherwise he wore the thick pelts from the planets natural inhabitants. His hunting instincts came back full force, he could smell and hear an enemy coming from miles away. He knew the lay of the land, the best hunting routes, and which animals had the best meat. Of the plants from the natural greenhouses that he found, he knew which ones were medicinal and which were poison. Which tasted best and which ones he should avoid at all costs.  
He was satisfied with his life, if not happy. There was only one thing that could do that, and he wasn’t even going to think about it. Pushing those thoughts aside, he considered his life on UV and what made great. Here he was a hunter, he was free, and he was alive. He didn’t have anyone chasing him down. There was a cozy lair to call home, and food in his belly. There was no noise, no pollution, and no annoying people. If he could not be happy, he would settle for satisfied.  
It was about then that he realized that he should strip the ship of anything useable. There were still some salvageable foodstuffs, blankets, mattresses and medical supplies on board that he could use. He carefully made his way back to the ship, the place he parked it was not easily accessible and it was well hidden. Whatever he decided to take needed to be carried on his back, it would be heavy and he would need to be able to climb back to his cave with it.   
The trip there was uneventful, it was a calm cold clear day and he could see for miles around him. There was not a single other creature within the area. When he arrived he noticed that something left tracks in the area. There were deep scratch marks on the wings and at the edges of the hatch. It remained intact but the damage was obvious. He turned the trigger and opened the hatch. It moved very slowly, the hydraulics were already starting to deteriorate in the frigid cold. Within a few more months the cells would be dead. There would be no getting off this planet unless he got a lift from someone else. Considering the fact that most human beings could not live in the deep cold for great lengths of time, he didn’t see much of a chance of that happening. He climbed on board and closed the hatch. The last thing he needed was to be blindsided by an Urzo or one of the other predators that lived on this land.   
He gathered the supplies he needed from the main cabin; food, straps, medicine cabinet. Cloth and materials, anything that might help him, he gathered and put into a pile on the floor of the air lock. He found a large back pack in one of the lockers and started throwing some of the loose items inside. It would make the trip back that much easier, plus he would be able to strap some of the larger items on the outside of the pack. He was just about ready to go back to the cave when he passed by the stairs to the loft.   
The call from his inner beast was loud, telling him to go up. During his trip to this planet he refused to go up there knowing that he would smell her, them, their coupling. Once he engaged in cryo he adamantly refused himself to go visit that place where he had first taken her and made her his. He found himself climbing the steep stairs, his feet moving of their own accord, his heart pounding in his chest. He pulled off his goggles and looked around. Two more steps and he was in front of the bed. The sheets still rumpled from the last time he made love to her. Her scent surrounded him, it wrapped around him and he growled in pain. He could almost hear her heated panting breaths as she pushed against him, feel her fingernails as they scratched deep making their marks on his flesh. He tore the blanket off the mattress in a complete rage, the pillows and mattress followed. He tossed the items to the bottom of the ladder and turned away. He could not succumb to this! He could not give in to this need for her. She was not safe with him!  
He was about to go down the stairs when something shiny glinted in the darkness. If it wasn’t for his shined eyes he would never have seen it. Wedged between the small table and the bed was a cuff. It was hers, he could smell her scent on it faintly. It was not one that she ever wore, at least not while she was with him. It was made of thick black leather, there was an intricate knot made of some sort of machined black metal on one end of the cuff. He thought that it was rather odd that the embellishment was not centered into the middle. He flipped it over so he could look at how the metal was inlaid and realized that the knot was actually the handle of a wickedly curved black blade. The cuff was actually a scabbard for the weapon. He held the leather up to his nose and inhaled her scent. It was hers, definitely hers.   
He looked at it and realized that it was too big to fit around her wrists, which meant that it was an arm cuff. Curious he put it around his wrist and snapped it into place. It fit perfectly. Like it was meant to be found and meant to be worn by him. He knew at that moment that if he ever took it off, it would not be by choice. They would have to take it off of his dead body.  
Riddick went back down the steep stairs. Grabbed the blankets and pillows, folded them and rolled them tight and strapped them to the back pack and headed back out. He was half way back when the storm started, it picked up quickly, he could barely see through the blowing snow. The wind was whipping wildly around him, the cold cutting through the layers. His steel treads were gathering ice around the metal studs, causing him to slide on the ice. He had to stop several times to knock the ice off so he could continue on. The snow was blinding he could hardly make out the defining marks that lead to the cave. If he didn’t get back quickly he would freeze to death within the hour.  
He smelled it on the wind before he saw it. The large humanoid figure of the Urzo, with its thick gray fur and mashed muzzle and sharp teeth, it came at him out of the blizzard with sudden speed. Its thick clawed arms struck out at him, trying to slash at his throat with the sharp claws. He ducked and spun away, as it came after him again with a roar. It was taller than him by over a foot, more heavily muscled. This was not the first one he encountered since he arrived. They were actually pretty decent food. This one was hunting him though, not the other way around. Riddick pulled the long knife that he kept on the outside of his gear at all times. He kept it there for reasons just like this one. On this frozen heap of a planet you never knew when something was going to come after you. One day Riddick was the hunter and the next he was the hunted. It was a pure primal existence.   
He slashed back with the long knife, going on the attack, and drawing blood from the beasts long fingered clawed paws. The beast roared again in anger, reaching with both of those massive paws, trying again to go for his throat. Riddick spun away, slashing again with the knife, but going low cutting the beast on the thigh. Today was about survival. He didn’t dare drop the pack, if he did he would lose all of the supplies he had just spent hours gathering to the driving snow of the blizzard. He would have to fight the monster with the extra weight. It would slow him down, but at least it would also offer protection to his back.  
The creature was enraged, and Riddick knew better than to piss these creatures off. They were bad tempered on a good day, and were much harder to kill once they were injured or protecting their young. He knew he had to kill the thing and quickly. He was coming back around when the creature back handed him into a massive wall of ice. A wall of ice that Riddick hadn’t seen because the visibility was so poor. He hit hard and the wall cracked under the impact. A massive icicle crashed down from somewhere above him, the point driving deep into the muscle in his shoulder. Damn it the last thing this monster needed was to smell blood. Riddick growled. These beasts were hard to kill, but he was worse. This fight was going to end. Now.   
He pulled the small knot hilted knife from the cuff with his other hand. Now he too had claws on both hands. Riddick roared and rushed his beastly attacker. It swiped at him twice with its sharp claws but he avoided them easily spinning behind it, he sliced out with the small black blade and was impressed when the blade sliced through the thick hide like butter. The animal screamed its pain and spun toward him trying again to swipe and back hand him. Riddick rushed in again, this time getting into close range, slamming into it and driving it back he shoved the long knife into its ribs. He slammed the handle back and forth, forcing the blade to penetrate deeper and deeper, doing more and more damage. This kill was not for food it was for survival. It didn’t need to be pretty. He wouldn’t be taking it with him.   
The beast hit him about the head again and again with its paws. The first few hits dazed Riddick, but the hits became weaker and weaker. He must have struck something vital with the long blade. Not that he could tell in this white out. He could barely see the creature, and he was practically in its embrace. He cleaned both of the blades on the creature’s fur and returned them to their scabbards. There was no way that he was going to find his way back to the cave, not in these conditions. He hauled the now dead creature closer to the wall. Then took off the pack and unhooked the blankets that he salvaged from the wreck. He used the beast’s body to make a barrier from the wind and tented the blankets around them both. It was messy, but at least it was insulation from the storm.   
When the storm broke hours later, he trudged back to the cave, he carried his back pack with all the gear and the carcass wrapped inside the blankets. He dropped the pack in his living area and pulled the beast’s body to the back food locker of the cave, where he strung it up for later. There was no point letting the meat go to waste and there was enough hide left that he could put to use. He pulled out the little black blade from the cuff and examined it for a long moment before he started skinning the beast. It was then that he realized the intended use of the blade. The blade was super sharp, meant for slicing through thick hide and getting in between the layers of skin and fat. The wicked curve made it an excellent scraping tool, with this little weapon he would be able to clean the hide to the point that there was little to no residue left.   
Rehtaeh’s father was an avid hunter. He would take his children out hunting almost every weekend. Rehtaeh told him she was an excellent hunter and that she could skin and tan a hide better than anyone in her family. He looked at Rehtaeh’s small skinning tool and wondered if after five hundred years in cryo, she could still skin an animal.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36  
Rehtaeh  
They made it back to New Mecca only a few weeks behind schedule and walked directly into an ambush by Toombs and a couple of his buddies. She was standing at the bottom of the ships ramp looking at the three Mercs standing on her front porch. One of the lackeys had a gun to Imam’s head. Rehtaeh looked at the big hairy Merc as though he had two heads.  
“Toombs, right?” Rehtaeh asked him as he blocked her way into her house.   
“That’s right.” Toombs looked at her, his eyes skimmed her body from head to foot and back up again, both times he had lingered for a minute too long on her breasts.  
“What the fuck do you want?” She glared at him, her voice dripping with hostility.   
“Well I was gonna pop you for the hit you had on yer head, but it’s been magically removed.” He drawled stalking towards her. Heath and Carolyn stepped down behind her, Heath with his hands hovering over his hip holsters, cowboy style. Carolyn’s arms were crossed protectively over her very pregnant body. “Apparently the man who entered it was convinced to remove it before his untimely death. We know you did it. That’s murder, Sister. So what happened?”  
“Remner had an unfortunate accident in an airlock.” Rehtaeh said coldly as the memory of the night passed through her mind. She shifted on her feet, watching carefully for an attack.  
“Is that right? You care to elaborate?” Toombs was trying to goad her. “I hear tell that there is a video.”  
“Really? Does the video have Alliance Evidence stamped on it?” Rehtaeh returned, she pulled out her wallet and flashed her Class 9 Clearance badge at the Merc, and stowed it away. “I didn’t murderer him Toombs. I did execute him for his crimes. That was my job. Regardless, I have immunity. Read my file.”   
“What’s a person gotta do to get Immunity? Musta been big.” Toombs sneered at her. The asshole knew all this. His face said that she was not telling him anything knew. He was fishing.   
“I made some really, really big donations to society.” Rehtaeh smirked at him. “Of the non-monetary kind. You could say that my sacrifices have been for the good of all humanity.”  
“Is that right?” He drawled, he was leering at her. She could feel his eyes as he perused her body. She wore her black skin tight jeans, red fitted tank top, and her well worn combat boots with the knives hidden within. She was wearing her holster, carrying both of her guns and concealing her two knives. He couldn’t see her arsenal, but the look on his face indicated that he knew she was carrying more.  
“That’s right.” Rehtaeh growled back, she met his gaze when it finally came back to her black glasses. “Piss or get off the pot, Toombs. We both know you’re not here for me. What do you want?”  
“Riddick. Your husband remember?” Toombs sneered at her. She rolled her eyes, she knew that lie was going to haunt her. “We know you are cozy, Princess, so how ‘bout you tell us where he is.”  
“How ‘bout, No.” Rehtaeh looked at the Merc holding his gun to Imams head. “As long as you are threatening my friends, I am not giving you shit. Now kindly get off my property, you are trespassing.”  
“I ain’t leaving without your boy toy Riddick, now where the fuck is he?” Toombs said again as he walked towards her, the other Merc pressed his gun harder against Imam’s head.  
Rehtaeh ignored his question, it was redundant and she was not in the mood to deal with idiots. She was barely holding in the rage that had been building in her for weeks. There were some days that she was sure that she was just going to disintegrate. Today was one of them. “I’m not in the mood Toombs. Either you get over here and dust my ass or get the fuck off my porch.”  
“I am not leaving without information.” Toombs growled starting towards her again, closing the distance.  
“Imam go inside, this may get ugly.” Rehtaeh told the holy man. He didn’t have to be asked twice, the moment the Merc lowered his gun, Imam had stepped as far away as possible. The merc looked back at the holy man before he followed Toombs onto the path, leaving Imam free to return to the safety of the house. As soon as the door closed, Toombs was well within range. She threw a high round kick hitting the unsuspecting Merc in the cheekbone and nose. There was an audible crunch and his nose began to bleed. “This is my final warning, get off of my property now, before I do more than break your fucking nose.”  
“You fucking bitch!” He ran at her and she dipped her knees, dropped her shoulder into his belly and lifted him off the ground. Throwing him deftly over her shoulder, he landed hard on his back. She spun quickly and sat on his chest, pinning his shoulders down with her knees. She had her blade against his throat.  
“Get this through your thick skull, you bull headed Mercenary freak, I am not with Riddick. He is not here. He did not tell me where he was going. Leave me the fuck alone.” She spoke slowly, steadily and clearly. “If you or anyone else darkens my door way, or accosts my friends, they will die. Do you understand?”  
“Yes.” Toombs gravelly voice muttered under his breath.  
“Louder, I want to hear you. Do you understand?” Rehtaeh pressed the knife closer to his carotid artery.  
“Yes, damn it! I understand.” Toombs barked at her.  
“Good, for a moment I wasn’t sure you would understand short sentences, much less small words. And I don’t speak Merc.” Rehtaeh growled back, she stood and backed away keeping her blade in her hand. “Now get the fuck off my land before I take your head.”  
The two Mercs grabbed Toombs and pulled him towards their ship, which was on her landing pad. Toombs cursed her the entire way. Heath and Carolyn went inside but she waited until they lifted off and left her airspace before going inside. She looked at Imam who was standing in the kitchen looking shaken. “You okay Imam?”   
“I have had better days.” He told her, with a half-smile. He no longer looked like he was angry with her, he just looked sad. She knew that look. It was one of pity, “It looks like you have had better days too?”  
“Today is better than most, Imam. You were right; I should have never taken out Remner.” She turned and headed towards the stairs.  
“My sister was one of his victims.” Imam said quietly. If his sister was a victim, he would have seen the video. He would have seen her depravity, and would have seen her lose her humanity. Now she understood the pity. “He deserved punishment, but it should not have been you to carry it out. You were a victim too.”  
She turned and looked back at him with tears in her eyes. His eyes flicked over to Heath and Carolyn who were giving huge hugs to both Jack and Suleiman. “Do not tell them what I did Imam. I do not want them to know what kind of monster I have become. They have enough to worry about.”   
“I see that.” Imam said thoughtfully as he looked at the very happy and very pregnant couple. She noticed that he didn’t argue with her about turning into a monster. He didn’t need to, they both knew it was the truth, he saw it coming months ago. She spun on her heel and walked upstairs, not stopping until she reached the room she shared so briefly with Riddick.   
She opened the door and his scent overwhelmed her. The tears began to fall before she even had the chance to close the door behind her. All of the events that happened over the past few months hit her square in the stomach. Riddick leaving, the long trip to Aguerra Prime, the warehouse, and dealing with Remner. She stripped out of her clothes changed into a pair of shorts and a sports bra, and then she went back downstairs and out the back door to the gym. She passed Suleiman, and Jack without a word of hello. She overheard Carolyn say, “She needs some space. Just give her time.”  
A lot happened while they were away. Imam’s wife and daughter arrived the month before. Lajjun of course was in the same room as her husband and Ziza was staying in the room Carolyn used when she first arrived. The expecting couple was now in Heath’s room in the basement where they could have more privacy. Imam and Suleiman bought a house in the city months before and used the time to have it renovated for their family. A week after their return Heath and Rehtaeh helped them move in. The cargo ship carrying the family’s belongings arrived the week before and the many crates were finally being delivered by truck. The application that Carolyn started before they left was finalized and approved. They only needed to sign the official papers and within days of their return Carolyn had guardianship of Jack.   
Rehtaeh spent the next few days in her house moving things around making it her own. Her yard was filled with contractors as she had them repaint the house, and landscape her yard. She had a full sized wading pool and play park created for when Heath and Carolyn’s children got older. The upstairs spare bedrooms were redecorated, Jack chose the middle room on the top floor and Rehtaeh had a decorator come in to consult with Jack how she wanted it done. Rehtaeh’s old bedroom was remodeled into a nursery and Heath and Carolyn chose the décor for it and the former blue room, which they took as their own. The other rooms were repainted and redecorated to make them cozier and less cold. Her parents room was given an overhaul. As much as she loved the colors, they were not deep enough or dark enough, it needed to be changed.  
She had builders come in and build her a studio in the back near the pool. It had a small bedroom, for days when she might go into catharsis. There was a full washroom, and a laundry room. There was a room for stretching and framing her canvass. There was a massive storage room for her raw materials as well as another for her finished products. The main area was made completely of glass so that she would have light at all times. There were even lights built into the glass frames so that she could continue to paint at night if she wished and still keep the same lighting effects on her subjects. All of the work done in and around the house took less than a month to complete. She paid extra for it to be done well and to be done quickly.   
Time moved in slow motion for her. She filled up every possible second of every single day, just to keep herself from thinking too much about Riddick. Or from obsessing about what she did to Remner. She spent time in the recording studio in the basement, messing around with the different instruments making an assortment of recordings. She spent hours in her gym, working up a sweat, trying to exorcise her demons. When she couldn’t sleep she meditated. She worked through her feelings for Riddick and wrapped herself in that love. She systematically dissected what she did to Remner and reminded herself that he was the monster. She was only his executioner. What he did was not reflected on her.   
It wasn’t until she went into her studio one night and gave in to the emotional pressure inside of her, that she found release. While she painted she released the upsurge of emotions that were building inside her since she carried out Remner’s sentence. She allowed herself to relive the moment as she poured the images onto canvas. Her human and beast sides were out of balance. It was like they were pulled apart during the execution. Now they were at odds with each other. She needed to reconcile and rebalance her dual nature. During her catharsis she imagined her human and she imagined her beast, painting both giving life to both. Her beast told her, ‘Stop wallowing in self pity and hurt, he can’t hurt you any more, you are stronger than this. Get up. Live.’ And her human side replied, ‘When you take over like that and relish the kill so joyously, it scares me. I am afraid of getting lost inside of you.’ She painted them becoming entwined with each other, a perfectly joined creature that was playfully and dangerously animalistic, and honorably joyously human. When she came out of the studio days later, she felt whole again.  
From then on her life became even busier. Imam begged her to attend city council meetings; somehow she was his new pet project, like he was trying to make her into some respectable citizen. Lajjun came out every couple of days for coffee or tea or just to get away from the bustle of the city. Ziza was a joy, she was about to turn four and was into everything. She loved visiting Rehtaeh in the studio, mostly because Rehtaeh would cover her in a paint shirt and give the girl access to her supplies. Carolyn forced her to be the secondary person in the delivery room, in case Heath wasn’t available. This meant she had to take Carolyn to birthing classes. Rehtaeh was pretty sure that this was all Heath’s doing. He was trying to keep her from pulling herself apart. He didn’t need to, since she was already whole again, but she did appreciate the thought.  
Jack reminded her that she promised to give her meditation and martial arts lessons. Jack was an avid student, her biggest problem was her guard. Rehtaeh drilled her over and over, but it seemed that every time they sparred the girl would lower her hands and she would get hit in the head. Jack would become petulant and accuse Rehtaeh of picking on her, and Rehtaeh would just bark at her to stop dropping her guard and she would stop going for the open head shot. Though Jack didn’t really get the meditation, she did it without complaint, especially if Rehtaeh joined her. Rehtaeh enjoyed her time with Jack it was one of the few times that she could just be.  
Suleiman joined Jack every day after school, he wasn’t all that interested in the martial arts and he was certain that his father would not approve, he just wanted to spend time with Jack. So Rehtaeh taught him Tai Chi, which was like a mixture of martial arts and meditation rolled into one. Jack wanted to know everything, so whenever Rehtaeh was home she would give the girl a lesson. Carolyn and Heath also tried to keep Jack busy as well, they insisted she attend modified classes at the local high school and take some other types of local educational courses. Jack didn’t like most of the changes, she was used to getting away with things with Imam, but Heath and Carolyn were stricter and watched her better. It was a struggle for all of them for the first couple of weeks, and then it seemed to settle nicely.  
Rehtaeh was starting her business selling her paintings and started investing in everything from art, to computer technology, to ships and manufacturing. She also became more involved in the community, Tiller and Commandant Maxwell felt that she would make a good spokesperson for the military and were trying to convince her to become an ambassador for New Mecca and Helion Prime. The only time she was at home was to sleep, paint, work out or give Jack and Suleiman their lessons. Otherwise she was in town working on her various projects.   
Her constant trips into town kept pulling Heath away from Carolyn and Jack, since it was his job as her personal guard to escort her when she was in public. Neither Heath nor Rehtaeh said anything about the sheer number of times they were accosted by Mercs. It seemed that Rehtaeh couldn’t leave the property without someone trying to get Rehtaeh to tell them where to find Riddick. Worse it seemed that Toombs had gotten some official job with the Alliance and Rehtaeh couldn’t take him down. Jack kept asking why Heath had to follow Rehtaeh around, and they kept telling her that it was because it was his job. They told her not to tell anyone about Riddick. They were up front with her that there were Mercs following everyone around.  
Carolyn knew without asking, she just had to look at the bruises on Heath and Rehtaeh to know what was going on. She asked Rehtaeh quietly why the Mercs were still hounding her and Rehtaeh just told her never to marry the Big Evil. That lie just seemed to have become common knowledge for every greedy Merc in the known universe. The whole mess was becoming a nuisance for the Alliance, because there was a trail of bodies that needed to be cleaned up every week. She complained on a daily basis that there had to be a way to get these creeps to leave her alone.  
She was beginning to burn out from the constant activity that she was doing, and the signs were becoming visible. Carolyn and Heath suggested several times that she should go out. Have fun, go dancing, go shopping, anything other than work. Finally one night Rehtaeh decided to take their advice. Maybe the change of scenery would do her good. She showered, dressed in a pair of black leather pants and a red halter top. She wore her heavy boots and tall leather cuffs that each concealed a blade within them. Just in case. She didn’t tell Heath, she left without warning and figured that she could give him the night off.  
It was well after midnight, she had drank more than her fair share of Vodka and Lime, she damn near lived on the dance floor since she arrived at nine, drawing the attention of both men and women. She was tuning them out. Ignoring the mass of freezing cold flesh that was pressed up against her, dancing and grinding body to body. Finally moving off the dance floor she ordered another drink and went to sit in the darkest possible corner. She stayed there for the remainder of the night, missing Riddick and drowning her need for him. Only the waitress seemed to know that she was there, and that was how Rehtaeh wanted it.   
She was completely out of it when she stumbled out the door and into the street, having consumed copious amounts of vodka. She didn’t notice the Mercs that were waiting for her outside. She was stumbling her way towards a taxi when one of the bouncers realized that she was nearly out of it, and steered her to the waiting car. He was helping Rehtaeh into the front passenger seat, when the Mercs attacked. They shot the bouncer in the back and hauled Rehtaeh from the car. The door slammed closed and the driver immediately locked the doors and called the authorities.   
Rehtaeh only knew two things, the bouncer was hurt and she was in danger. Her protective instincts kicked in, momentarily clearing her drunken mind. The other was that once again Toombs had put his damn nose where it didn’t fucking belong.   
“You fucking shot him! You Fugly Mutt! What the fuck is up with Mercs and killing innocent people?” Rehtaeh yelled as she recognized Toombs in the group of four. She was on them within seconds. She could barely remember anything she did, her instincts had taken over and everything became a blur. All she remembered was being hauled off of Toombs, his nose bleeding profusely, by a local cop.   
The taxi driver was finally able to get out of the car and went directly to the bouncer, who was just starting to wake up from the heavy tranquilizer that he had been shot with. Statements were taken. Heath was called to collect her from the police station. Toombs and Rehtaeh were both hauled to the local jail and had to be separated due to the insults they kept flinging at each other. Rehtaeh checked in at the desk, showed her ID and much to Toombs shock she was released and Heath came to take her home. He kept screaming that she had killed three Mercs. She should be going to jail, not be set free. She found out later that Toombs was released in the morning.   
When she showed up at the house with a very tired Heath; Carolyn met her at the door. “What the hell happened, Heath says you tore apart three Mercs with your bare hands!”  
“I don’t know, the bouncer was shot, I saw him go down, we were in danger and I saw red. It was a blur.” Rehtaeh said as she walked into the door. She stopped and looked down at her boots. There was blood on them, blood on her hands. She started to cry. It had been a long time since she had let herself cry. “They are never going to stop coming after me. I am putting everyone I love in danger.”  
“What the hell were you thinking leaving without me?” Heath yelled as he shook her once.  
“What’s going on?” Jack asked suddenly, as she appeared at the top of the stairs wearing her pajamas. She looked at Rehtaeh covered in blood, crying weakly in the middle of the hall. Though it was obvious that Jack was eavesdropping once again, the look on her face was initially one of shock and then turned to pure disgust. “And you guys are afraid of me turning into a monster? She goes out, gets hammered, comes back dripping in blood and can’t remember half of it. Get off the floor and own up to it you coward.”  
“Jack’s right. I’m a murderer. I thought I had it under control, but I don’t. I am a monster. I can’t seem to help it.” Rehtaeh watched her go back to her room and then started rambling in drunken confession. She just started crying harder, oblivious to the cold pain as Carolyn wrapped her in her arms and started to rub her back. “I miss Riddick. She reminds me so much of him, it’s hard to be reminded of why I miss him. Every day I find myself headed to the ship, going to get him back, and every day I stop myself just in time. It’s killing me, Carolyn. Knowing where he is and not being able to go to him. I am dying inside.”  
The incident seemed to ignite Jacks anger; she started pushing her boundaries with all of them. She got caught sneaking out at night twice, Heath grounded her for a week each time. Then she got caught with a drug called Minatine on her during a surprise inspection at school and was expelled. She started fights with kids twice her size at her new school and got kicked out of that one too. Heath enrolled her in the military academy, and they had her locked down from the time she arrived until the time she went home.   
Jack’s accusations left Rehtaeh emotionally raw and she was sure the girl was right. Rehtaeh felt strained whenever she was near Jack, unsure of what the girl wanted or needed from her. Afraid that her violent side was influencing the impressionable teen Rehtaeh spent as little time as possible with the girl. Other than their prearranged training sessions she rarely saw Jack hoping that time and distance would help heal what was broken.  
Carolyn was close to her due date when everything blew up once again. They were all visiting Imam’s new place celebrating their house warming party. Rehtaeh brought a portrait she painted of them as a gift. She also painted portraits commemorating Hassan and Imam for the family. There were tears both happy and sad from the entire group. The gathering was beautiful, the large town house was decorated from top to bottom, there were copious amounts of rich food, music and laughter filled the house. It wasn’t until much later that the adults realized that Jack and Suleiman had snuck out of the house.   
Rehtaeh and Heath went looking for them. Rehtaeh tracked them by scent, it was faint, and she wished that Riddick was there. He would be able to find them faster. They tracked them up the hiking paths to the bluff that ran along the river at the edge of the city. There was a group of twelve large males beating on the two kids. One had a very badly bleeding Suleiman pushed up against a rock. “Where the fuck is he?”  
“You really think Riddick would tell a couple of kids where he went?” Rehtaeh growled darkly as she neared them.   
“When he wouldn’t even tell his wife?” Heath added with a snarl of his own. ‘This was getting fucking old,’ Rehtaeh thought. “Fucking Mercs. You have no fucking boundaries. What do you think Rehtaeh, should we teach ‘em a lesson?”  
“Is that even a valid question, Heath?” Rehtaeh growled as she pulled the knives she had hidden under her shirt. Heath went after a pair of goons that had been kicking Jack’s lifeless body while she ran at the man holding Suleiman. He reached for his gun and she kicked it out of his hand and plowed the hilt of her knife into the man’s face. She hit him twice more before turning the blades in and slamming them into his ears. “Maybe next time you’ll fucking listen when I say Riddick didn’t tell me where he was headed.”  
The man dropped and two came at her with their guns drawn, she could tell they weren’t going to kill her, they wanted her alive. Heath had taken his first two down by snapping their necks. For some reason her nephew had a thing for using his bare hands, she did understand to a point. There was something very animalistic about being able to take a life without the use of a weapon. She threw both of her knives at a pair of Mercs who were standing at the edge of the fray as she grabbed the guns that were always strapped in the holster in her jacket. Her first knife hit its intended target in the heart and the other planted deep in the Mercs throat. Heath grabbed his attacker’s knife hand, slammed his elbow into the man’s throat. Then he brought the man’s arm down across his knee breaking the limb so he could use the man’s own knife to gut him. She shot the two advancing on her in their heads and went to retrieve her knives before they even fell to the ground. She had taken five. Heath was working on his fourth and fifth, he was kicking the shit out of them. There were two left, both looking on in horror at the dead men that were surrounding them.   
“Who’s up next, is it you or you. We both know you are not leaving here alive, and you had sure as hell hope those kids are still alive. If they’re not you are going to die twice.” Rehtaeh stalked after them. They were about to run and there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen. Not after what they had done to Suleiman and Jack. Throwing her knife at the one who turned away, it hit him in the back of the thigh, hamstringing him. He fell to the ground screaming in agony. She rounded on the last and hit him square in the jaw with her right fist. He reeled in surprise. He had obviously not expected a woman to be able to hit so hard. Throwing a left right combo she was on the attack, always the aggressor always pushing the Merc back. His face was bloody, his nose was broken, and she saw red and just kept going.  
By the time Heath hauled her off of the Mercs lifeless pulpy body she was surprised to see that all twelve men were laying dead at their feet. She didn’t remember finishing off the man she had been hitting before killing the man she had thrown her knife at, but both men were dead by her hand. They called Tiller and she had men out to clean up the mess and take the kids directly to the hospital. Both of them were breathing, but barely.  
“You know Rehtaeh, the Alliance is going to revoke your Immunity if you keep this up.” Tiller told her as the medic chopper loaded the kids into the bay.  
“Is there any way you can get these Mercs off my ass, Tiller? I mean, they attacked kids for crying out loud!” Rehtaeh retorted. “I mean, it’s not like I go chasing after the fuckers, but every time I turn around they are on my tail.”   
“You know, that would be so much easier to do if you would just tell them where Riddick is.” Tiller snapped at her. She was one of the few people who Rehtaeh trusted and now her instincts were telling her the opposite. What the hell happened? “We didn’t find his remains on that planet and you two were positively identified by citizens at the transport station you stopped at. Who was your escort Rehtaeh? It was Riddick wasn’t it? You were getting cozy with him, so stop denying it!”  
“It doesn’t matter who got me here. You said so yourself, as long as I made it here alive, it didn’t matter who brought me. Riddick didn’t fucking tell me where he was going!” Rehtaeh yelled back at her. The General backed off, Rehtaeh was telling the truth, it didn’t matter who brought her to New Mecca. It only mattered that she was alive. Unfortunately the Alliance had little influence over the Mercenary Guild, so she could not use her influence to get them to leave her alone. All they could do was continue on cleaning up the mess.  
Heath and Rehtaeh met everyone at the hospital. Tiller and her men did a complete investigation and found that eight of the men killed were actually some of the older and more notorious members of a gang. The younger kids in the gang reported that Jack was going around telling everyone that she knew Riddick and was going to go find him. The gang, looking for some quick cash sold the information to the Mercs. In the end the Mercs and the gang waited to get Jack alone and instead went after both teens.  
Rehtaeh donated more of her blood to the hospital, even though she was already a weekly contributor at the local blood bank. Imam and Lajjun spent the first few hours in the hospital praying. Heath and Carolyn sat with them in the waiting room. Both families sat waiting for information from the Doctors. They heard from Jack’s Doctor first. Jack was lucky she was not badly injured, other than a minor concussion and a couple of large lacerations on her chest and back, there was some minor internal bleeding which was easily repaired with their medications and Medibed. She would be able to go home within the next twenty four hours.  
It was hours before they heard from Suleiman’s Doctor. He was in very bad shape and had spent over six hours in surgery, removing the debris and dead tissues and repairing what they could. He suffered three stab wounds, lost a lot of blood and was bleeding on the brain. Even with their best Medibeds and medicines, they were not sure if he would recover proper brain function. Imam and Lajjun were inconsolable.   
Rehtaeh felt so guilty. She left the waiting room and wandered the hospital for hours. When she got back to the waiting room, Jack was moved to a private room for observation and would be discharged the following day. After spending ten minutes with the sobbing teen her heartache was too much for Rehtaeh to take. She couldn’t meet Jack’s eye without falling into tears herself. She was trying to be strong for the girl. She couldn’t bear the pain on the girls face for another moment so she left to check on Suleiman who they moved to intensive care, and was placed in a recovery pod. She was standing vigil by his bed. He looked peaceful and at rest, but the pod reminded her of a coffin and she felt it was completely at odds with the life force she felt within the boy.  
Imam was coming back from the cafeteria with food for himself and Lajjun and Ziza when Jack went to visit Suleiman. She was standing over his pod, tears falling on her cheeks. “I am so sorry Suleiman, we shouldn’t have left the party. We shouldn’t have gone for a walk. I should have listened to you.”  
“You! This is your fault!” Imam slammed the food tray on a table. Everyone in the room jumped a mile high. Imam never raised his voice. He never got angry like this. “You are always pulling him into things that he doesn’t want to do. You are always making him follow you around. This is your fault. The Doctors say he only has a five percent chance of survival.”  
Jack’s tear stained face fell even further than it had before. She looked so completely broken. She looked from Imam to Suleiman and back to Imam. “I’m sorry.” She sobbed pushing past him, as she ran down the hall. The back of her hospital gown flapping as she ran from the room, Rehtaeh was glad that they gave her pajama bottoms to go along with the ill fitting smock. Carolyn and Heath went after her, and Rehtaeh stayed behind. She looked down at the young man in the pod. She bent and whispered into the speaker vents. “You are a fighter Suleiman, you will win this. Win and come back stronger.”  
Then she turned at looked at Imam, there was a fire burning in her, “She is still twelve Imam, too young to be dating a seventeen year old, but she is. You allowed that. She loves him and you just told her that the one person who loves her unconditionally is going to die.”  
“She has no control.” Imam started, his voice wavering with his grief.   
She looked him in the eye and snarled at him, “I know you are angry, I know you want someone to blame. If that is what this is, then blame me. I can take it, but don’t you dare blame Jack. I am the only monster here.”   
With that she spun on her heel and went after the others. Two days after she went home Jack heard rumors that Suleiman had died in the hospital. The rumors were not true, they were meant to hurt her, and they did what they were intended to do. Jack freaked out and was walking out of the house as Rehtaeh and Heath came home from some business in town.   
“They are lying, Jack, he is still in a comatose state. They are keeping him like that until the swelling comes down!” Carolyn called out from the front door. “Jack, Come back! It’s not true, damn it!”  
Jack didn’t look back and when Rehtaeh stepped in front of her, Jack plowed into her with her shoulder and kept walking. Carolyn stepped out of the house intending to follow, but she was carrying so heavily, that she could barely waddle the few feet to the top step. “Rehtaeh, go after her. It’s not her fault! Tell her! Bring her back!”  
Rehtaeh ran after Jack, grabbing her by the elbow to spin her around. Forcing the girl to look at her. “Carolyn is right, Please Jack, stay!”  
“Is that you talking? Or her?” Jack snarled as she looked down at her, the girl had grown over the last nine months, she was now a couple of inches taller than Rehtaeh. “You don’t even want me here, so go to hell Rehtaeh.”  
“What are you talking about Jack? Of course I want you here. Why wouldn’t I?” Rehtaeh asked she looked at the girl in complete shock. When had she ever said she didn’t want her around? She actually liked the kid!  
“Don’t I remind you too much of Riddick?” Jack snapped back at her, stepping forward, she was trying to make Rehtaeh back up. Rehtaeh was a person who stood her ground, and this confrontation was no different than any other. “You told Carolyn that everything I do reminds you of him. You sent him away so why would you want me?”  
“I didn’t send Riddick away. You do remind me of him, and I love him! What do you think that means about you, Jack?” Rehtaeh asked her feeling confused at where this conversation was going. “I didn’t want him to go!”   
“Then go after him!” Jack yelled at her.   
“I can’t do that!” Rehtaeh hollered back, it dawned on her that she was hoping that Rehtaeh would lead her to the convict. There was no way Rehtaeh would allow that to happen.  
“Why not?” Jack goaded her, she was fishing for the location, and Rehtaeh could feel it. “If you love him so much, go after him.”  
“No, Jack, I can’t go to him!” Rehtaeh yelled at the girl trying to get her to see reason, “I have Mercs constantly following me around. Do you want me to lead them right to him?”  
“Kill the fucking Mercs!” Jack yelled at her.  
“I have been! Haven’t you noticed anything? Fifty-seven Jack, it has been nine months since he left and I have killed fifty-seven fucking Mercs. That number grows on a daily basis.” Rehtaeh’s heart was pounding in her chest.   
“What about Toombs?” Jack taunted her. She had heard her complaining about the man countless times.  
“I have told you a dozen times, I can’t touch Toombs!” Rehtaeh yelled exasperated. “He works for the Alliance now, as long as he works for them, I can’t touch him!”  
“Bullshit!” Jack screamed at her. “You are such a coward, Rehtaeh. You say you love Riddick and yet you won’t even go after him. You are constantly in the middle of Heath and Carolyn; you are such a home wrecker. I hate you!”  
Rehtaeh just looked at the girl for a long moment. When had this all consuming hatred for her begun? Feeling utterly defeated she looked back at Carolyn and then turned to go into the Quonset. She needed to get away from the girl to cool off before she did something stupid. Like hit her.  
“See!” Jack screamed at her, her voice was following her, but she couldn’t feel her she was staying just outside her perimeter. “You are a fucking coward!”  
Suddenly there was a searing pain in her spine and her legs gave out. Rehtaeh dropped to the ground screaming in pain. Carolyn screamed and ran for Rehtaeh. Heath came out of the Quonset at a run. She felt heard Carolyn’s cry of shock and smelled the moisture as her water broke, the moisture dampening the sandy Helion soil. Heath turned and ran for his spouse, “What the hell have you done?”  
“She deserved it!” Jack yelled, and then she started to cry. “She hates me! I can see it in her eyes.”  
“No, Jack, she doesn’t! How many times has she saved your life, my life and Heath’s?” Carolyn cried from several feet away. There was a blood smell. Carolyn needed a doctor, her labor brought on by the stress of the recent events. She needed to go to the hospital. Rehtaeh was so tired, she just wanted to close her eyes for a bit. “You repay her with murder? What the hell is wrong with you?”   
Jack crawled closer. She turned Rehtaeh over picking up her head. The girl was looking into her eyes her tears falling on Rehtaeh’s face. Looking up into Jack’s eyes she saw the remorse. “I didn’t mean to. It slipped from my hands. I swear, I didn’t mean to. Do you think she will ever forgive me?”  
“You can ask her if she lives,” Heath said softly. Rehtaeh could hear Heath speaking into his com device, calling for emergency services.   
“First Riddick, then Suleiman, now you and it’s my fault. I am so stupid.” Jack whispered faintly as the girl’s arms pulled her close. Rehtaeh tried to tell the girl that she forgave her but her mind and body wouldn’t work and she faded into darkness.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37  
Rehtaeh  
She was standing in the field of grave stones looking at the familiar landscape. Taking in the bushes and vines that were twining themselves around the grave stones, the land was silent, not serene, it was far too quiet for that. Taking in the fresh mountain air and the watching the trees sway in the distance, she didn’t see when the woman first appeared to her out of the mists. The woman was tall, strong. She was a warrior of some sort. Her long hair was braided away from her face and she wore armbands and bracelets. She looked tribal in many ways. “You must come to Furya, Rehtaeh. You must come to Furya to learn your true path.” The woman reached out and gently touched her face. Her hand was warm and there was a gentle comfort to it. Then she was gone and her vision faded into blackness. Never before could she remember such an all encompassing darkness as she slept.  
When she woke, the woman was gone. She looked around the hospital room disoriented and lost for a long moment and then she remembered all that happened. She needed answers to questions. Where was Jack, why the hell had she turned on her like a rabid animal? Where were Carolyn and Heath? How long was she sleeping? She wondered if Carolyn and Suleiman were both still in the hospital, and as she looked around she realized that she was in the intensive care unit. Just down the hall from the room Suleiman was in last time she visited. She was hooked to a IV, so she closed the drip, unhooked the needle and turned off the machine. She pulled off the other monitors they had on her and found a pair of cloth pants. She went to the washroom and went in search of Imam.   
Imam wasn’t visiting Suleiman, but she followed the boys scent and found him just waking up from his own long sleep, she looked him over and was happy to see he was recovering nicely. They talked about Jack for a long time, he was arguing that Jack was blaming herself for problems that were not her own. She countered that she was sticking her nose into those troubles and making them her own. She told him about the incident that put her in the hospital and they fell into silence. Jack had a lot to answer for. Her impulsive actions resulted in both of them being in the hospital. They both wondered where she was. Rehtaeh’s instinct reared up again that the girl had run away. She tried to shake the thought off but it stayed anchored in her mind.   
It wasn’t long before Doctors and nurses poured in and found her sitting on the edge of Suleiman’s bed swinging her legs gently. Heath, Imam and Lajjun followed closely behind them. There was a lot of hugging and gushing, and Imam and Lajjun both sent heartfelt prayers to their God. The Doctors insisted on checking their patients over, so Rehtaeh and Suleiman gave each other a hug and Rehtaeh went back to her room.   
Rehtaeh shocked them all when she came into the hospital with such a severe injury. They did not have the equipment needed to heal her spine so the only thing they did for her was give her some healing medication to kill the bacteria and ensure that the wound healed effectively. Her vital signs went all over the map and they had a hell of a time trying to keep her in normal ranges. Within hours of medical treatment her body dropped into a self induced coma. The Doctors were astounded by her healing capabilities. It had been a clean cut, her spinal cord completely severed and the Doctors believed she would never walk again. They were surprised not only that she survived, but that she woke up and walked away from her bed as though nothing happened. After several rounds of testing and testing and more testing Rehtaeh had enough and told everyone to back the fuck off. She was not their Guinea Pig.  
The Doctors told her that she was in a comatose state for two weeks, and other than the heart rate and brainwave monitor they had no indication whether treatment was working or not. Heath told her that Carolyn was at home with the babies, exhausted and working through postpartum depression. The only reason he came to the hospital was because of the emergency call that Rehtaeh had disappeared from her bed. He then broke the news that Jack ran away the day after Rehtaeh went into the hospital. He told her that she stowed away on a ship headed for the Lupus system. Jack wrote Heath and Carolyn a note telling them that she was going to go after Riddick. The girl was certain that she killed everything she touched. She told them not to follow her. Then she just disappeared in the middle of the night. Just as Rehtaeh predicted when things got tough the kid turned tail like a rabbit. Heath was planning a trip to go after her, when he told her this, she changed the subject. She was not interested in going after someone who didn’t want to be found.  
When he tried to argue with her she just looked at Heath and growled. “Take me home. I want to help Carolyn and the babies.”  
Alex, Mark, and Evan, all boys, they were a handful from the very first day. The moment Rehtaeh walked in the door to meet her grand nephews, her life was filled with joy. She did everything she could to make things move smoother for Carolyn. Allowing her one on one time with each of her sons so that she could bond with them, and at the same time making sure the pilot got enough sleep and time with Heath. The only thing Rehtaeh wanted was for Heath’s little family to be successful, which would have been hard with one baby much less three. So she became their nanny in many ways, just trying to help out, and not step on any toes.   
The babies were three months old when they boarded the massive new ship Rehtaeh bought and headed off into outer space. None of them were going into Cryo, so there was enough food on board to feed an army, but that was okay it was a big ship. There was more than enough room on board for everything the babies needed. Even specialized pressure pods for the babies during lift offs and landings. The ship was fully equipped. It was a space yacht, made specifically for family travel, Heath and Carolyn looked at her in curiosity when the ship was delivered. Rehtaeh had no use for a ship such as this. It wasn’t until they were already up in deep space that Rehtaeh handed Carolyn and Heath the deed to the ship. She bought it in their name for their growing family.   
Heath and Carolyn were going to Lupus 5, with hopes of finding Jack. So much happened since the crash of the Hunter Gratzner that they didn’t blame her for her horrible actions. There were few twelve year olds who could survive what she did without some traumatic effect. Carolyn and Heath however still loved Jack, even after everything that happened they wanted to give the kid another chance. They tracked her to Lupus 5, finding that she had joined up with the Mercenaries there. Rehtaeh was just along for the ride. Since Jack didn’t have the guts to apologize to her face, Rehtaeh was not ready to forgive her yet. Yes, Jack seemed remorseful at the time, but she ran away before she could take ownership for her actions.   
“I can stay with the babies, why don’t you two go after her?” Rehtaeh asked Carolyn, as she reluctantly strapped her gun belt to her hips. “She’s not going to want to see a ghost.”  
“You have to go, Rehtaeh. She needs to know you forgive her.” Carolyn chided. Rehtaeh growled under her breath. She didn’t forgive her. The only reason she was here was for Heath and Carolyn.  
“She would have to do some major apologizing before that’s gonna happen, and you know it.” Rehtaeh growled as she put on her new glasses with the transitional lenses before stomping down the ramp, following Heath out into the city. Finally she had glasses that would suit all of her needs.   
Heath and Rehtaeh caught up with Jack at the training facility with the crew that had taken her in. They had left Carolyn at the ship watching over her babies. Rehtaeh got a bad vibe from the crew the moment they encountered Jack’s new ‘friends’, especially when they tried to get too friendly with her. She approached their ship under peaceful terms asking to speak with Jack. It was a young punk at the door with blonde hair and a five o’clock shadow, he seemed to think he was God’s gift to women, “I’ll let you see Jack after you bring me some joy hot stuff, how ‘bout we go get it on.”  
“How ‘bout I drop your ass on the ground here, and go look for Jack by myself?” Rehtaeh responded coolly, rolling her eyes.   
“You really think you can take me, pint size?” The man looked her up and down with a sneer.   
She responded with a sucker punch to the jaw, and a knee to his junk. The man fell abruptly into an agonized heap, “Yeah, I do.”  
She stepped past him and entered the building, she found Jack in the living area. Heath stepped out of the dark corner by the door and followed her. The ship was a bit of a dive, but then she had high standards, the furniture was ripped and worn, stained with who knew what. There was a general film of grime that covered everything, and the stale and moldy scent in the air sent Rehtaeh’s stomach rolling. It was awful, and Jack was living in this mess. She looked at Jack as she was being teased by several larger guys. “So what’s the deal Jack? We weren’t seedy enough for you?”  
“Rehtaeh!” Jack said, shocked at her sudden appearance. There was a flash of happiness in the girl’s eyes followed by fear, then smothered by something darker. The curious glances by the Mercs between Rehtaeh and Jack made them both wary. Heath’s presence immediately had everyone on edge. He was so intimidating even when he was just standing watch. Jack stalked over and grabbed her wrist hauling her into the dirty galley kitchen. Heath guarded the door making sure they were not interrupted. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were dead.”  
“Obviously you thought wrong. You should know by now I don’t die easily.” Rehtaeh said softly as she looked up at Jack, who had grown another inch in the last six months. The apology she hoped for never happened, in fact there was even more hostility than ever before. As though Jack blamed her for what happened. The remorse Jack showed when she held Rehtaeh was long gone, and in its place was a calculating coldness. Rehtaeh’s instincts continued to be dead on. “And I should ask you the same thing, Jack, what the hell are you doing here? Why the hell are you running around with Mercs?”  
“They’re gonna teach me the drill, give me a piece of the cut.” Jack said, and then sneered at her, “Better than that pansy assed meditation you were trying to get me to learn. What the hell can you teach me, Rehtaeh? How to paint? No thanks. How to shoot? I already got that covered. How to fight? I didn’t learn anything from you in two months of training. Maybe if I had I would have been able to stand up for myself. You’re still a fucking coward.”  
“You stabbed me in the fucking back and ran away so who’s the real coward Jack? I gave you a chance. I saved your life how many times? I even tried to teach you the old martial arts. It’s not my fault you kept dropping your fucking guard.” She narrowed her eyes at the teenager; this kid just seemed to want to push her buttons. She never seemed to have a problem with anyone else, only her. “You have a listening problem that borders on absolute ignorance and arrogance. How was I supposed to teach you anything if you can’t obey simple instruction?”  
“My opinion is that it was the teacher and not the student.” Jack goaded her, her eyes flashing in anger. Rehtaeh was not going to fall for it. Jack was a typical teen, she had all the answers, and no one around her could possibly understand what she was going through. Typical ‘poor me’ mentality. Rehtaeh rolled her eyes, ‘How the hell did my mother go through this with seven of us? I can’t handle one!’ She thought.  
“Funny, in my opinion it was the irresponsible teen blaming everyone else for her problems.” This conversation was not going well. Rehtaeh knew she could have handled it better, but really the kid had a smart mouth and needed it smacked. Secretly she hoped that she and Jack could reconcile their differences. It was obviously not going to happen. The girl told her to her face that she hated her, and then she had gone and proved exactly how much. Carolyn wanted her back though and Rehtaeh would do almost anything for her adopted sister. She took a breath and mentally stepped back before trying again. “Look, I am here on Carolyn’s behalf, not my own. I know you hate me Jack, but you love her. Go back for Carolyn.”  
“Carolyn is weak. She let you and Heath walk all over her. You know you were running around behind her back.” Jack taunted her; her voice was snide, harsh. “Why would I want to be around someone so weak that she couldn’t even keep her own husband from a home wrecker?”  
“It’s always the same old pathetic lines with you isn’t it? You are either really deaf or really stupid Jack. Heath and I have never and will never be involved. That would be incest. Not interested, thank you very much. He is my personal body guard; I pay him to follow me around. It’s his fucking job.” Rehtaeh growled at Jack, she reached her limit. There was a lot that she was willing to put up with but doing the same old dance was not going to get them anywhere. If Jack couldn’t learn to listen then there was no point in even trying. “You could go back because for some idiotic reason Carolyn loves you. As for me, I am still very angry with you. I could have taught you everything you wanted to know, but you want everything the easy way and honey that’s not how life works. If you really think you have got it golden with these creeps then stay.”   
“I think I’ll do that, Rehtaeh. They can teach me to track down Riddick, you can’t do that. Or can you? You were his whore weren’t you? Maybe he told you where to find him.” Jack stalked towards her, trying to intimidate her. Rehtaeh didn’t back down, as soon as she came near her she slapped the girl, hard. Then as the girl stumbled back in shock, she hit her again with the other hand.  
“That’s for calling me a whore, you spoiled ungrateful twit.” Rehtaeh snapped at her, her rage was quickly rising. “As for Riddick, the last thing I would do is tell you where he went. You would probably get him thrown into a slam by leading these jackasses straight to him. Lucky for me, he didn’t tell me where he was going. Get your head out of your ass, and think about who you are hurting, Jack. This involves more than just you.”  
“Get out, don’t come back.” Jack growled at her, holding a hand to her stinging face, tears brimming at her eyes. “If I ever see you again, I will kill you.”  
“You tried once Jack, and failed. Go ahead and try again. I’ll be waiting.” Rehtaeh growled at her and walked out, brushing past Heath on her way. She waited for him outside while he had a few words with Jack. Rehtaeh knew Carolyn would be deeply hurt by this, she felt she was responsible for this child and she had been deeply shocked by Jack’s actions.  
Heath stepped out of the house several minutes later and they headed back to their ship, “You told her you didn’t know where Riddick was, but I know you do. How did you get away with the lie? You are a horrible liar.”  
“I was telling the truth, Riddick didn’t tell me where he was going. I saw his possible destination on a star map.” Rehtaeh shrugged as she walked beside him. “What did you say to Jack?”  
“I told her that she needs to get her head out of her ass and realize we still love her, before it’s too late. I also said that if Riddick wanted to be found he would come back on his own, I said some other things too, but they’re not important.” They left, respecting the girl’s wishes and didn’t look back. Carolyn was devastated when she got the news, she really did love the girl. Heath did keep tabs on her, as a form of respect for Riddick, since he would want to know what happened to her. As much as Rehtaeh tried to stay cold she still listened in whenever Heath brought up any leads he had on her.   
After a year of travel from Lupus 5, stopping only to swap power cells and resupply, their first destination was Furya. Heath was so excited to show his new family his home. When they arrived what they found was complete devastation. The planet was desolate, and it was cursed. What had not been destroyed was locked in a state of half death, half life. They called out to see if there were survivors but there was nothing and no one. If there were they were hiding. There must have been someone there after the devastation happened; there were grave stones and markers covering mass expanses of land. The landscape reminded Rehtaeh of her nightmares and she began to cry grieving the loss of starting anew in the world of her brothers. Heath mourned the loss of his people and Carolyn consoled both of them. They looked on the Alliance planet logs and found out that the planet was destroyed by war over twenty five years earlier.  
Rehtaeh was awed by the sheer beauty of the planet. Even in the state of half life that it was, the similarities to earth were astounding, the mountains and vistas, the long flat plains that would have had animals of all kinds roaming over them. All of it reminded her of her childhood home. The moment Rehtaeh stepped onto the planet she felt an overwhelming love and connection to Furya as well as a tremendous weight on her chest that stayed with her long after she left its atmosphere.   
The atmosphere was still breathable, livable, so they decided to go explore the remains of Furya. Each one of them carried a baby in a baby carrier on their backs. The boys were eighteen months old. They were walking among the rubble trying to find anything that could possibly explain what had happened to the planet. Where had the people of Furya gone? Heath walked into an area that was once a town square; there were the remains of a fountain and a tall statue of a woman had been toppled. Rehtaeh found a plaque, and rubbed the dust and debris off of it so she could read it. “The Heart of Seven”  
Heath came up beside her. When he spoke his voice was solemn. “One of dad’s friends had it made in memory of you after you ‘died’. He told dad that you were the only Furya that was worth the trouble. Dad agreed with him.”  
They walked along what once was a street towards a coliseum type building. Rehtaeh and Carolyn followed Heath through the rubble into the building through a buckled archway. From the looks of the building, it had once held a library or an archive. There were the remains of computer desks as well as toppled bookshelves. Time and the elements left devastation in their wake, there were brittle pages, buckling spines. Nothing that Rehtaeh touched was worth salvaging, still Heath continued to search, for what? Rehtaeh had no idea. She moved away to look at the remainders of murals on the walls. She found a portrait of her brothers, the plaque said ‘Furya Founders’ and listed their names. She moved along to the next one and found herself staring up at a man she knew long ago in her youth. They grew up together. He was her crush when they were in school, before her A.D.S. made her life hell. Her feelings for him didn’t change, even though her A.D.S. made it impossible to be near him. She even remembered his name. Grayson R. Brennan.  
“You knew him?” Heath joined her. He was holding a large tome of a book in his arms. It was perfectly intact. She looked at the title and was blown away. ‘A Complete History of Furya’   
“Yeah, I told you about him. I had a crush on him in school.” Rehtaeh said distractedly. “We tried dating once but the A.D.S. made it impossible.”  
“So he is the one who pushed you over the edge?” Carolyn softly, her eyes were sad as she joined them.  
“Do you really have to tell her everything?” Rehtaeh smacked Heath on the shoulder as she laughed softly.  
“I didn’t think it was a secret.” Heath said his face was apologetic.  
“It’s okay, I was teasing. To answer your question, yes, he was the one who pushed me off the rocker, so to speak. I didn’t realize that Grayson Brennan was part of the research team.” Rehtaeh turned back to the handsome man on the wall and studied the painting of her old friend. She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her, because she could see traces of Riddick in the painting of Grayson. She shook her head; she never thought that she had a ‘type’ of guy she preferred. Maybe she was wrong.   
“Well he wasn’t known as Grayson Brennan while he lived here. You must have made quite the impression on him because he was the one who had the statue built of you.” Heath said as he flipped through the pages of the large book. “Dad said he got into trouble on earth and had to change his name in order to be allowed on the mission. I knew him as Grayson Riddick.”  
He was skimming through the book, flipping pages, as the women looked at the paintings. Rehtaeh turned suddenly and looked at Heath. Her nephew was oblivious. “Wait. You are saying that Grayson is Riddick’s many times great grandfather?”  
His whistle made both women turn back to look at him expectantly. He looked up at Rehtaeh. “Yes, and that’s not all. Apparently about a hundred years after his death the Furya and Riddick clans fell into a major feud, it was still ongoing at the time of publishing. Which was-,” Heath flipped to the front of the book.   
“When, when Heath?” Carolyn asked, her voice was breathy with awe. Rehtaeh couldn’t believe this.  
“Thirty years ago.” Heath said quietly. “When did the Alliance say this happened?”  
“Twenty seven years ago.” Carolyn said looking between Heath and Rehtaeh.   
“So you are saying that our family and Riddick’s are like the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s of Furya; or the Capone’s and Moran’s?” She started to laugh, when both of them looked at her in complete confusion. She had been worried they were related somehow, only to find out that they were supposed to hate each other. She started to laugh hysterically for several minutes. She hiccupped and said, “We are the fucking Montague’s and Capulet’s of Furya. Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers, destined to die together yet alone.”  
“On the plus side you now know for a fact you are not related.” Carolyn said wryly, which made Rehtaeh laugh even harder.  
“No, I only had a crush on his ancestor. Does that make me some kind of weird pedophile?” She was in hysterics, she could barely control her emotions. She settled into a shadowed wall.   
“Whoa, Rehtaeh! You are doing it again, you are disappearing.” Carolyn grabbed her hand and made her refocus. This had been happening more and more often since she woke up from her coma. Whenever she lost control over her emotions and she was standing in a shadow she would start to fade away. “With Alex on your back, might I add?”  
“Shit sorry, is he okay?” Rehtaeh asked craning her neck to look back at the happily gurgling baby boy. “Apparently he didn’t mind the darkness.”  
“That’s our cue.” Heath said softly, “We need to take you to see these Elementals. We need to find out what they know about your strange ability.”  
“You mean my ‘Cloak of Darkness’?” Rehtaeh said softly, turning back towards the painting of Riddick’s ancestor. Her best friend, he told her he was going away, but she had no idea that he was going with her brothers. She made an oath of eternal friendship with him; he held a very special place in her heart. And now she had an even greater bond with his many times great grandson. She looked at the mark on her left hand. The faint ‘R’ tingled as she reached out with it and touched his hand in the mural. She was jolted into darkness.   
There was nothing but inky blackness around her. The woman from her hospital dream came to her in the darkness. Her familiar voice joined with the voice of another, a husky harsh comforting voice, “You have found our history, read it Rehtaeh. To go forward you must go back. Your quest continues with Zephora. Find her on Quintessa.” Then the voices faded away. Rehtaeh blinked and she was back on Furya looking up at the face of an old friend. She shook her head and turned to follow Heath and Carolyn back to the ship.  
They were about to go up the ramp when Heath stumbled and hit his knees. Mark started crying in the pack as his father jostled him unintentionally. Heath’s hands were shaking and he was sweating profusely. Carolyn ran to his side, and anchored him, “Heath! Are you alright?”  
“I don’t know, Carolyn. This has never happened before. I feel so weak.” Heath said struggling to stand. Rehtaeh and Carolyn both helped him to his feet and helped him to the medi-bay on the large yacht. Carolyn took care of the children while Rehtaeh hooked Heath into the scanner. His blood levels were low, his blood pressure was up, his vitals were all over the map. They used the manufactured blood supply available in the Medi kit and Heath had an immediate reaction and got steadily worse. Rehtaeh did the only thing she could think of and did a live transfusion of her own blood. It worked and his vitals leveled out. Once Rehtaeh got Heath settled into his bed, Carolyn stayed with him while Rehtaeh took the ship into space. They needed to get to Quintessa quickly, not only for her troubles, but for Heath as well.  
Once they were on their way, Rehtaeh followed the vision’s advice. She read the history of Furya from cover to cover. It was a rich history, but it was not her own. Her name was not mentioned once. They only mentioned her brothers as the founders, even her parents from earth were named, but her name was never mentioned. The only reference to her was as the ‘Heart of Seven’ statue that was built by Grayson Riddick. It was rumored to be what started the feud, since both the Riddick’s and the Furya’s claimed a hand in its creation. Neither clan could prove their claim, since the history and legend of the statue was lost over time. When it was time to do repairs to it, there was no reference to what the woman might have looked like or who she might have been.   
She was truly the sister time forgot. She was not a part of any history books. Even on earth her timeline was wiped by the Alliance, and she was never a part of her brothers’ lives on Furya. Heath swore to her that she was not forgotten in his lifetime, or the following generation, since the stories were passed on to the grand children. Her brothers and Grayson kept her stories alive. As far as Rehtaeh was concerned it was just another piece of her puzzle that she finally had in her grasp. ‘Heart of Seven’ according to Grayson Riddick was the middle child of seven, the one Furya worth fighting for. ‘The Source’ was the woman who donated her ova to the creation of Elementals on Quintessa. And now the ‘Sister Time Forgot’ was explained as well. All that was left to learn was the Shadow Mage and Red on Black. Those were the missing pieces.  
“Hey Heath?” Rehtaeh looked up from the heavy tome, “What are these blood bond rituals they are talking about?”  
“Dad told me you created them. Don’t you remember, Rehtaeh? The family kept them as an honor to you.” Heath asked her with his eye brow raised he was helping Carolyn put the boys down for a nap. Rehtaeh’s eye brows shot up. She remembered clearly. The day her brothers left for their mission, she forced them to blood bond with her. One at a time she cut an ‘F’ for Furya into the fleshy part of their right palm, and they cut an ‘F’ into hers and she made them swear. ‘Furyan Warriors, Battle Sworn, Battle Fought, Bound by Blood, We Stand as One.’  
She whispered it and he echoed her. “And the other? For marriage, is it the same as well?”  
“Well yes. There is the marriage oath.” Heath looked at her oddly. “Dad said there was a third one. You swore a blood oath to someone you cared for deeply, but that it hurt you horribly.”  
“Grayson and I shared a blood oath before he left, it was a bond of friendship. It went ‘United by blood, my heart entwined with yours, until we meet again.’ I always wondered why Grayson marked me with an ‘R’.” She showed him the faint ‘R’ carved into her left hand. “But I told Jacob that the oath for marriage was ‘Warrior, Lover, Mate, Bound by Blood, Heart and Soul United, Until the End of Time’. The idea was that a person willing to swear a blood oath with their lover should mean that they were swearing their souls to one another. I never thought that the ritual would still be in use, look.”  
“Started by the Furya’s in days of settling, the blood oath is still a practice that binds our people together. A warrior blood bond, ties together a group of warriors, to give each other strength in times of trouble. A marriage blood bond ties together a mated pair until the end of time. A blood oath is not for the faint of heart as there is no reversal of either bond, once the oath is made, the bond stays intact. It has been proven that those Furyans that engage in a blood bond have the most successful unions.” Carolyn read out loud. She looked at Heath, and quirked a smile, “sounds daunting. How is it done?”  
“Well if we were to marry, I would carve my initial into your left palm, and you would carve yours into mine, then we would say the words at the same time.” Heath told her gently taking her hands into his. “Will you bond with me, my mate?”  
“Yes, Heath, I thought you would never ask.” Carolyn laughed. Rehtaeh pulled both of her blades from her gun belt and handed one to Heath and the other to Carolyn. They each carved an ‘F’ into each other’s left palm, then allowed the blood to swell can collect in their palm. Then Furya and Fry were united and bound in blood as they said in unison. “Warrior, Lover, Mate, Bound by Blood, Heart and Soul United, Until the End of Time.”  
“Why did you use ‘F’ and not ‘G’, Heath?” Carolyn asked quietly.  
“It was the Alliance that wanted me to change my name. In my heart and soul I will always be a Furya.” Heath told her. Rehtaeh quietly closed the massive book and carried it out of the room giving the newly bound couple some space. She moved to the bedroom that she was staying in and put the book on the bedside table. For someone that was forgotten by the universe, her brothers had embraced her influence, and kept her alive in every way they could. She was honored and humbled by their love.  
As they journeyed through the galaxy Heath continued to keep tabs on Jack until she disappeared again. She was off the books, beyond any satellite feeds that they could monitor or tap. Her trail once again gone cold, he could not find a trace of her. All of them feared the worst, but they just couldn’t bear to give up. Rehtaeh kept her heart cold, she was not about to let her guard down when it came to Jack.  
They were half way to Quintessa when they landed in a space port for unloading of merchandise for Rehtaeh’s distributors and for refueling and restocking supplies for their journey. Rehtaeh checked in to the dock, filled out the forms for resupply, and headed into the main port buildings. Heath and Carolyn were staying with the ship and their boys. Rehtaeh needed to walk. She found that as much as she loved traveling deep space, it reminded her too much of Him. She would get hit by the overwhelming desire to go after him and had to shut it down somehow, so she would get some real gravity time and go for a walk or a bite to eat. She walked into a pub for a bite to eat and a drink, when she felt someone quickly approaching her from behind, the warmth she felt told her exactly who it was. She turned in time to see Jack attacking, her knife raised in her hand.  
She blocked the knife hand, grabbing her wrist and used the girl’s momentum to twist her arm and disarm her. She elbowed Jack in the stomach and then again in the nose as she doubled over. She pulled on Jacks arm and her hips to haul the girl over her shoulder and dropping her to the ground, she kicked the girls discarded knife out of the way and pinned her struggling body to the ground. “Still no guard, I see. Someday Jack, you are going to regret turning your back on what I offered to you and when you do, I may not welcome you back. Be careful about burning those bridges.”  
“Names not Jack, she’s was weak, I am Kyra.” The girl looked at her with complete hostility, “Why the hell are you following me?”  
“Are you on drugs, Jack? Your paranoia is through the roof. I have no desire to follow you, I have better things to do than chase after some ungrateful shithead.” Rehtaeh told her, her own voice had gone cold, as she sealed up her love for the girl.  
“I said my name is Kyra, now.” Jack said as she struggled underneath her, they were drawing a crowd. The girl got her left hand loose and went to hit Rehtaeh. She blocked it easily, and slammed her elbow into the girl’s shoulder, popping the joint out of place. Jack screamed in pain.   
“Nope, you are still Jack. Jack the rotten little girl, who cares only about what she wants, too self-centered to give a shit about the welfare of those who love her.” Rehtaeh sighed as she stood, pulling the girl to her feet. “Until you prove you are worthy of a new life, a new name, you will always be Jack to me. Jack Shit.”  
Rehtaeh turned on her heel and left the pub, leaving the enraged fourteen year-old screaming profanities at her retreating back. With a dark satisfaction Rehtaeh enjoyed the open rage that was directed at her, this time she deserved it. Leaving the girl injured and in a state of vulnerability, she had finally given the kid a taste of her own medicine. Maybe Jack would learn from it. Something inside Rehtaeh held on to that small hope, the rest of her seethed in rage. She went back to the ship, helped finish loading up supplies and they got back under way. She didn’t tell Carolyn or Heath what had happened right away, she was too angry, too hurt by the second attempt at murder by a girl who she once loved so deeply.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38  
Rehtaeh  
Two months later they reached Quintessa, she sent a communication to Aereon about Heath’s ever worsening condition. The Emissary, along with her entourage, met her at the dock and made sure that Heath was taken directly to the best possible hospital. She also made sure that Carolyn and the kids had accommodations close by. The air elemental was intrigued when told that Heath was Furyan, but was later disappointed when told that he was only second generation, before the adaptations she called Alpha traits were inherited. Rehtaeh wondered briefly what that was about but pushed it out of her mind. Heath’s well being was more important that the Elementals calculations.  
Test after test was run, and Heath’s condition was getting worse and worse. Heath was certain that it was some dormant virus that he caught while on Furya, but the boys were not affected in any way. The Doctors were not so certain. Rehtaeh pulled out her old pad computer and uploaded the list of vaccines and antidotes that had been made during her time in cryo, she gave the list to the Doctors on Quintessa and they contacted the Alliance headquarters there. Heath was Furyan, he would need Furyan medication. The panels were immediately transferred to the hospital and Heath started undergoing treatment. After three weeks of intense treatment, Heath was in stable condition and there was nothing more the doctors could do for him on Quintessa. If he wanted further care he would need to return to New Mecca.  
Rehtaeh took the triplets with her on outings into the city as often as she could in order to keep them out from under the Doctors and Nurses feet. During these outings, Rehtaeh learned a great deal about Quintessa and the beautiful people who lived there, but she still had not learned anything about what was happening to her or what she was. Once Heath was out of the hospital they toured the planet for three months as Rehtaeh contacted the elders that Aereon suggested she see. They came to the end of the list of elders and the end of the attractions that could be toured by the average human. As beautiful as Quintessa was there was nothing more there for them to do or see. By then Heath and Carolyn were missing their home in New Mecca, having been gone for so long, and raising the boys on the road was wearing on all of them. Rehtaeh needed to stay, she was on a quest to find information and the couple was getting bored waiting around for her, so she sent them home.   
Left without transportation Rehtaeh went to the shipyards and consulted a master builder together they designed a stealth cruiser for when she was ready to go home. She gave them her specifications about what it needed to contain, the range of weapons that would need to be outfitted onto it, and the luxuries that she expected it to have on board, and the capabilities she wanted it to have. It was a top of the line ship, and much of the technology that was going into it was being developed by companies that she was heavily invested in. Once she was done with the ship builders she returned to the high temples of the Elementals to find out if there was anything more that she could glean off them.   
Now that she was alone she was finding that the Elder Elementals were much more open to questions about their race, and her history, she found that some of the more scholarly knew of her and her sacrifice. They were the ones who would help her find the answers she sought. Her exploration of Quintessa truly began and she finally started to produce results. It was an entire civilization built on her contribution to five infertile mothers. If it was not for her ‘donation,’ the people who settled here would never have been able to adapt since their natural children could not survive the strange birth defects that were created in the strange chemical structure of the environment. Her sacrifice created a beautiful and serene world, where balance was the key to life. From her five eggs eleven children were born, four sets of twins and one set of triplets. From them the traits of the Elementals was born.   
Rehtaeh was not an Elemental, though some of her traits were passed down to her offspring, allowing them to float, or glide or dissipate into the air, or to ground themselves in the earth or immerse themselves within flame or water. Her natural ability was much different than that of her children on the planet of Quintessa. She was also not a Furyan, either. She was told that she had all of the traits of an Alpha Furyan, but since she never set foot on that planet until recently she was not truly a Furyan. Daily she went to the temples to talk to the elders trying to find out what they knew about her and her history and anything that might help her. Still, she learned nothing about Shadow Mages or what they were and she was beginning to become impatient.   
Finally, she turned to her teacher and straight up asked him. “I need to find Zephora. Do you know who she is and where I can find her?”  
“To find Zephora, you must descend into the darkness.” The elder said as he escorted her to a set of stairs that spiralled down into a pit of darkness. There was no hesitation in her heart or soul as she descended into the blackness. Her glasses cleared as she went down the stairs, self-adjusting to the change in light. If she had been expecting a dank cavern, or eeriness and evil, she was in the wrong place. She was in a massive hall with magnificent archways and columns. To the north of the spiral staircase, there was what looked like a cozy nook where a person could go to study and learn. It was like a really old library but warmer, with thick comfortable chairs and thick soft throw blankets. There were tables and bookcases and along the farthest wall, a small fire that warmed the entire room.  
To the south was a massive training facility. There were large tumbling mats covering the floor. Punching bags lined a wall. There were weight machines and exercise equipment. There were massive weights, from fifty-kilo blocks to over a ton. Who in the hell could pack around a ton?  
She looked around in wonder at the beautiful space that she entered. She followed her instincts and went neither north nor south to find the person she was seeking. She went west. There was a cozy little kitchen with a small table big enough for four people. On the table was a pot of tea with two cups in saucers, it was just waiting to be served. “Please sit, Rehtaeh. I have been expecting you.”  
She recognized Zephora’s voice as it swirled around her. She recognized it immediately from the message she received on Furya, the voice that mixed with the warrior womans. It was hoarse and harsh and yet it just felt right, it felt comforting. Rehtaeh’s instincts said she could trust this person with the odd disembodied voice so she sat at the table and waited in still silence as the being moved around her. It was an odd feeling. She knew someone was there, and yet she was intangible. Like a warm brush of air against her flesh. She swirled around Rehtaeh quickly, making her dizzy with her quick movements. “Please stop. You are moving too fast.”  
“You can feel me, child?” Zephora’s voice asks somewhat startled.  
“Yes, of course, but you move too quickly, it is making me dizzy trying to keep up,” Rehtaeh replied softly. “Tell me, Zephora, What am I?”   
“You are a Shadow Kin of some sort. Your ability to see in pitch black darkness, your trigger reflexes, your strength and agility. The super-heightened senses. The Amplified Dermal Sensory. All of these are the natural traits of a Shadow Kin. Even your animal instinct is a preternatural element to our breed.” Zephora told her, as she materialized out of the darkness. She was a tall woman with dark skin and even darker hair. It was cropped close to her head, which showed off the proud angles of her face. She was statuesque. Long, lithe and lean. She wore a long dress in the palest shade of green offsetting the red undertones of her dark skin. Rehtaeh was in awe of her beauty. “You are different, though. You have not finished your first cycle, and yet you have the abilities of a novice.”  
“What are you talking about, my first cycle? What abilities?” Rehtaeh asked in complete confusion.   
“A Shadow Kin does not usually come into their powers until after their first death. Until their first life cycle is ended. I have lived ten cycles.” The older shadow mage told her.   
“I have come close to death three times, perhaps that is why?” Rehtaeh told the other woman.   
Zephora laughed it was a harsh, hoarse sounding laugh and yet it was entirely appealing. “Near-death is not enough to give a Shadow Kin their powers. If it happened like that, I know a couple of young ones that would have been full power before their first cycle was over, troublesome duo that they were.”  
Rehtaeh stayed silent. She had no answers; she had come here to hear what this woman had to teach her. The woman continued her thoughts, “No you are something more powerful. You do not have the empathy of a reaper. Nor do you have the judgment of a claimer, close but there is a vindictiveness about you that would taint the role. You are definitely not a guide like I am. No, you are not any of the usual Shadow dwellers.”  
“I am a Shadow Mage,” Rehtaeh whispered the words. Terrified of what they would mean for her.  
“The Shadow Mage!” Zephora laughed again. Like it was some private joke, “Where did you ever hear such a thing? There hasn’t been one of those in millennia.”  
“My dreams. A dark man in a dark crown asks me who I am, the first few times I would tell him, ‘I am the sister time forgot, the heart of seven. I am red on black.’ The last few times I have added, “I am the Shadow Mage, I am the Source.” Rehtaeh confided in the woman. Zephora was suddenly right in front of her. She put both of her strong dark hands on Rehtaeh’s cheeks studying her face and looking deep into her eyes. Her face was deeply troubled and Rehtaeh’s anxiety grew.   
“Your soul is balanced as is your shadow. This is good. The Shadow Mage is balanced light and dark.” She disappeared and swirled around her again, brushing against Rehtaeh in swift turns and sweeps. When she materialized again she seemed a little less distressed. “Your essence is too light. You have not yet experienced the depths of your darkness. When you do, you will find formidable power. Embrace the power, but resist the pull to dwell in it.”  
“What does this mean Zephora? I need someone to teach me. Tell me what I am, what I must do.” Rehtaeh whispered softly in the darkness. “I feel lost.”  
“I can teach you what I know, Shadow Mage, but you will not learn your true powers until after your first cycle ends. Until that time, you will only be able to work in the fringe of darkness. In darkness that already is. You will not be able to create your own.” Zephora told her, her voice was suddenly both hard and commanding and yet soft and joyful. How that could be possible, Rehtaeh had no idea.   
Over the next weeks and months, Zephora told Rehtaeh of her destined role in the future and what she would need to learn in order to help the warrior return life to the lost realms. Only a Shadow Mage could accompany a warrior breeder into the Underverse. Being made of shadow and death gave her the ability to keep a full mortal safe within the realm of the half-dead.   
“This is just great, Aunt Reh. The last thing you need is more power.” Heath rolled his eyes when she informed him of her news over a com unit. “You are already chaotic enough, the last thing you need is a realm to wreak havoc in.”  
“Hey!” Rehtaeh looked at him with a shocked face. “I don’t always cause chaos.”  
“If you say so, Aunt Reh.” Heath laughed at her. “My bet is that you give this Zephora lady a run for her money and break a few rules before the week is out.”  
He wasn’t wrong. Every time the Zephora told her something was impossible, she would find a way around it. She would prove the Shadow Guide wrong, making herself stronger in the process, and nearly giving the woman a few heart attacks along the way. She was never one to follow orders, and she no different in this. She tried and tested every rule that was created for her, ultimately Zephora used her tempestuous nature to her benefit and instead of trying to keep her in line she helped her to break the rules.   
Slipping into the darkness was easy for Rehtaeh since she had been partially doing it for years, since the night of the bio-raptors. It was an entirely different thing to control the ability. The shadows were colder than any person she had ever met, including Junner, at first she had only been able to go into the shadows for a short time. Zephora assured her that this would change after her first cycle ended. She trained both physically and mentally with Zephora to get past this barrier of pain, and by doing so she was no longer incapacitated by the touch of others. People still felt cold and she still didn’t abide the touch of others, but it was no longer painful.   
Within weeks she could make herself completely undetectable as long as there was a shadow or darkness of some sort, it didn’t even have to be a dark shadow. If there was shade in any degree, she could use it and move her body into it. She could hide in any shadow except for her own, it was not only unnatural to do so, but also impossible. She had tried, and again and again, she had failed. It was the only Rule she could not break.  
After completing a training regimen set forth for her by Zephora, to teach her control over her abilities she was finally able to use some of her power. She surprised Zephora by moving through the shadows piece by piece. She was able to disembody herself in the fringe of the shadow, her legs staying in one place and her torso and head on the far side of the shadow. She was able to see into the fringes of the shadows to see what was happening around her. Jumping between disconnected shadows was one of the skills she should not have been able to do, and yet after months of practice, she was able to move from one shadow to another. Since Rehtaeh insisted on pushing her boundaries Zephora had her working on pulling the weights with her into the shadows; she was just not quite strong enough. She could pull eighty kilos for about sixty feet in connected shadow. She knew she just needed to practice and push herself every day.   
A year passed and Zephora was more than pleased by her progress, but Rehtaeh was homesick. She needed her family around her and there was a nagging thought in her mind that if Riddick came back she would not be there to see him. He would not know to look for her on Quintessa. She shared these thoughts with Heath one night during a long conversation.   
“There is no rush to come back here, if your training is going so well, you should stay there to complete it.” Heath admonished her.   
“There is nothing more I can learn here, it is all about practice now, and I can do that at home. No, I need to come home. There is something pulling me in that direction and I need to listen,” Rehtaeh argued gently. “My instincts are never wrong, and I just know that I need to go back. It is time. Besides if Riddick comes back I want to be where I promised him I would be. Not a galaxy away.”  
“You can’t come back just for Riddick,” Heath growled as he shot her a quick glare. “If he wants you that badly he will go to Quintessa for you, besides he wanted you to live your life. Not pine for him. You are surrounded by compatible people, is there no one that has caught your eye?”  
“No, Heath, there is no one here. I miss Riddick, but it’s more than that. There is something about him that sets me on fire. He is completely different than any other person I have ever known.” Rehtaeh told him, “Even with all the people here who feel like family, not one of them is compatible in anything more than a family sense. The longer I stay the more I feel that there is something missing, and I know I need to find that connection again.”  
He sighed in defeat and looked at her for a long moment over the com unit before saying, “Well I can’t say I am surprised, Rehtaeh. You have joined with him. It only makes sense as a Shadow Mage that your inner beast has found the shadow in which it belongs.”  
“Heath, do you think it’s possible that Riddick is the warrior that I am supposed to help through the Underverse?” Rehtaeh looked at her nephew sharply.  
“It would make sense as to why you are both so drawn to each other,” Heath told her softly, with a smile. It was a knowing smile, the one that he reserved for the telling of dirty jokes and relentless needling about her now nonexistent sex life. But it wavered and fell a little too quickly. The picture wavered briefly and Rehtaeh looked at her nephews face. It was thinner, his hair was graying, and his entire demeanor seemed off somehow.   
“How are you doing Heath?” Rehtaeh asked as she noticed his hand shaking heavily as he adjusted something on the com device. “Don’t sugar coat it.”  
“I am dying, Reh. They say that it is some Cryogenic disease. The version of Cryo-chemicals they used on me is eating away at my insides. It is like the old fashioned cancers. Luckily they have your blood on hand at the hospital. They give me transfusions to slow the progress. They say I have six months to a year left.” Heath said his face was stoic, he showed little to no emotion. “Carrie and I are working out details and getting things in order.”  
“What’s with the nicknames all of a sudden Heath?” Rehtaeh asked him, not willing to continue the other conversation.  
“Life’s too short to spend it talking. Maybe you’re right Rehtaeh. Maybe it is about time for you to come home.” He lifted his lips in his version of a sardonic smile.  
She smiled back for a moment, before her heart squeezed tightly in her chest. It was moments like this one when she missed Riddick the most. Heath reminded her of him, they both spoke in short truthful sentences. They both seemed to share that knowing look that could spear into her soul and make her think about the impossible, and now she was on the verge of losing her nephew too.   
Weeks later her ship was ready, it was a beautiful beast of a machine. Christened ‘The Shadow Hunter’ by her makers, she was an elegant prowler of the darkest reaches of space. Sleek smooth lines identified it as a stealth model. It was narrow and aerodynamic at the front and there were two levels at the back, massive rocket like structures on the sides housed swivelling thrusters that could move the ship in every possible direction. The black matte coating was a high temperature sealed shielding that could deflect hits without taking damage to the hull. It was long and streamlined. It had a large suite style bedroom in the upper level and a kitchen and living area on the main floor of the ship between the cockpit and the airlock. Rehtaeh’s model was a test model for a cloaking technology that would hopefully be able to be used for the Alliance military in the near future. It also came with a prototype remote controller with a fully responsive operating system capable of taking off and landing on its own. It was a beauty, and as she said farewell to the planet of Quintessa she put the beast through its paces. She made a small list of the ship’s faults and revelled in the growing list of positive attributes. It was faster by far than any other ship she had piloted and made quick work of the flight path to Helion Prime and her family in New Mecca.  
When she touched down in New Mecca her first stop was her ship mechanic, he needed to fix the issues she found during the flight, she also wanted him to make some tweaks to the remote controller. It needed fine tuning and flight path manoeuvring protocols in it were faulty and needed to be perfected. Finally, she returned to New Mecca, to Heath and Carolyn. Their babies were now toddlers of the age of three. They were constantly on the go. There was absolutely no way that only one person could keep up with all three, though Rehtaeh almost could by using her Shadow Mage skills. They all looked exactly like their father, and Rehtaeh was please to hear that there was another one on the way. This time the Doctors had assured Carolyn that it was only one. Not multiples. It was amazing to be around family again. The noise and the laughter were uplifting.   
She spent as much time with her nephew as possible, finally convincing him to allow her to pull him through the shadows. Heath was always on her to continue her training, and when she wasn’t training she filled her days with as much activity as possible to keep from thinking about Riddick. She produced paintings, portraits, posters and anything else art related for her business along with keeping up with her investments and within the following months, her bank account grew immensely. The only set back she had was the bloody Mercs. The moment she arrived in New Mecca they were at her doorstep, demanding Riddick’s location. Following her around. Heath refused to let her deal with the ass holes on her own so he picked up where he left off as her bodyguard, fighting off Mercs. Arguing with him didn’t help at all, and when Carolyn took his side, Rehtaeh threw up her hands in defeat.  
Heath kept her up to date on the whereabouts of Jack. The girl was still alive, and when the bodies started piling up they knew it was her. He looked deep into the files of the men and women who were dying. They were all slavers; Jack had been slaved out and had turned on her masters, killing them, but she hadn’t stopped there, she had gone on a full out killing spree. The next thing they knew Jack was in a slam. Not just any slam, Crematoria. Heath was trying to figure out a plan to get Jack the hell out of there, and Rehtaeh was trying not to think of the girl at all, trying her damnedest not to care.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39  
Riddick  
Five years had passed. Five long glorious years of silence, of solitude. The only thing that would have made it better was Her. The only thing he had left of her was the cuff he had found, a couple of knives, a long bow, and a dwindling quiver of arrows. He wondered about her. Often. He wondered if she ever got the hit off of her head, if she had taken care of the sick fuck that tormented her for years. Perhaps she found someone else who was compatible. Perhaps she was married, with a kid or two. This thought made him growl. He couldn’t stand the thought of her being with someone other than him. He thought of Jack then, she would be seventeen now. He hoped that Rehtaeh had been wrong; that she didn’t rabbit like the woman was certain she was going to, he hoped that the kid had made a new start.   
He was hunting, and doing a damn fine job of it too. That bow was a blessing from the first day, as soon as he got the hang of the tension and the adjustments needed for a clean shot, he hit his target every time. Rehtaeh was right; it was almost as good as a dagger, real personal and just as deadly. It made the chase all that much more fun. Early on when he took down the Long Horn Mammoth it proved its worth as a weapon. He’d been able to use the hide for bedding and one of its tusks for a spear. The meat kept him fed for weeks. Today he killed a raptor cat, was just hauling it back to his cave when the Merc ship showed up. Sons of bitches just couldn’t leave him alone. Hell he preferred this solitary life to that of the brightness and noise. If they would stop coming after him, stopped hunting him and hauling him back to civilization they would all just get along. But no, someone had to take the damn job.   
He dropped the carcass, the bow and the quiver, as well as his spear and made a run for it, there was a massive cave ahead. He just had to make it there and he could take them out. One at a time. He wondered who the hell would take this job. What Merc was so hot after him after all this time? Toombs, it must be Toombs. He ran full out leaping over each crevasse. He knew this terrain, hell after five years he knew every single hole, nook and cranny. He was getting closer to the cave, but they were closing in. There were two men strapped as gunners to each wing, they were both lining him up in their sights, he could feel their eyes on him as he ran. He made it to solid ground just as the report from the rifle gave way, missed. The net spread on the ground just feet to his left and behind him.   
He didn’t stop, it was when you stopped that they caught you. He ran for the mouth of the cave, coming up on some rocks and turning away, another shot, another miss, this time hitting the rocks he had just turned from. The fuckers were closing in. He just made the entrance when one of the arrows hit his leg. He roared at the sudden impact and the pain as he was thrown to the ground. Fuckers got him. Not bad though. Just a flesh wound. He growled as he pulled the arrow out and threw it to the ground. He would not give them the chance to do that again.   
He turned back towards the entrance, and looked up at the ship, it was Toombs alright. Cocky bastard. He held up his arms holding out his knives for show and then he invited Toombs to come on in. Like the spider to the fly. Riddick would get to see what his little web would catch. The gunners were skittish, it would be a tight fit, but that just made the fight that much easier for him. Toombs could take care of his own or not. He ran deeper into the cave and then he started to climb using his knives, digging them into the ice and the snow. He got above them and ahead of them and waited for the timing to be just right. There was only one way that ship could go and it was right past him. He swirled from his hiding place behind a massive stalagmite and sliced the straps for the first gunner. He was over one of the arches to the other side and as the men in the ship slowed to see what the screaming was all about Riddick took out the second gunner.   
He heard Toombs tell his last partner to grab a gat and man the door. To keep an eye out for him. That was amusing. He was quick and quiet after that landing on the top of the ship as he waited for their next move. Bounty must be pretty big for Toombs to go through all of this trouble, just for him. He waited for just the right moment as the hatch on the portside opened and a gun poked out of the door. Riddick grabbed the man by the jacket and dropped him, watching him plummet to the snow covered ground below. He pulled himself into the portal just as Toombs activated the hover mode and went for his seat belt.  
“You made three mistakes.” Riddick said as he took a seat in the back near the door. “First you took the job, second you came light, a four man crew, for me? Fucking insulting.” Riddick waited, Toombs was trying to figure out a way out, and He could smell the man’s fear. “But the worst mistake?”  
Toombs unclipped his belt and moved to grab a gat, “Empty gun rack.” Riddick said as the man came up empty. He launched himself at Toombs and drove the Mercs head up into the steel roof, knocking him senseless for a long moment as he dropped the man to a seat and pulled a knife. “What’s the bounty on my head?”  
“One Mil,” Toombs said. He was lying. Riddick could smell it on him. Besides as greedy as Toombs was he wouldn’t come out here for that, split four ways. He slammed his foot into Toombs’ and made him scream, as he tried to move his knee, Riddick stopped it with his knife, the man froze beneath the pressure of the sharp blade, “One point five.”  
“What slam pays one point five for a convict?” Riddick asked next. None, that’s who, so it had to be someone else.   
“Private party,” Toombs told him, closer to the truth this time. He sliced the man’s pant up to the groin. The Merc started freaking out, “Hey, hey, hey, Guy, guy. Easy! Anonymous, that’s what the sheet said!”  
“What Planet!” Riddick yelled at him. Who the fuck would be so hard after him that they would set him up like that?   
“Helion Prime.” The man said as though it was a dirty word. Only two people he knew wanted him back that bad. Though she did have the means to fund this little hunting party, he couldn’t see her sending Mercs after him, if anything she would come after him herself. Since she wasn’t here Riddick knew of only one other person who knew where he might end up. Toombs made a move, thinking that Riddick was distracted, but he was quicker than that and had his knife on the Merc’s throat before he made it two feet.  
“Woah, where you going?” Riddick asked as he stopped Toombs in his tracks. “One more question, you better get this one right Merc. Whose ship is this?”  
“Mine?” The Merc asked him. Good enough, he could come and get it from him later, maybe. Riddick threw the Merc out the door and closed the hatch. Then he took the pilot’s seat, took the ship off hover and clocked it breaking atmosphere within seconds. He set the coordinates for Helion Prime and strapped himself in to Cryosleep.   
‘I knew they would be comin’ for me. It took ‘em five years, but I knew. You don’t expect these Mercs to have any honor, any code, but this new bounty from a holy man.’ Riddick thought darkly, he just couldn’t see Rehtaeh setting him up. Not after all the trouble she took making sure he got away clean. ‘A guy whose neck I saved. A lesson learned. No such word as friend. Can only end bad when you let someone too close. Bad for them. So now it’s back to all the brightness, and everything I hate.’ He had weeks to go before he would even make it to the Helion system, much less Helion Prime. ‘I wonder if She will be there.’   
Which girl did he want to see most? The runaway Jack? She would be all grown up by now, she had been a cute kid at twelve, he bet she’d be a looker now. She was like his little sister, a baby bird that he had tucked under his wing and kept safe for a short time. He left her for that exact reason. Now Rehtaeh was another story all together, hot little number that she was, all fire, all for him. Would she be the same? After five years she would have changed; she could have become harder, or softer. Depending on what life threw at her.   
He’d been drifting for days, watching the Chronos countdown the time to his destination. Twenty seven days to go. Lots of time for his mind to get a little messed up from all the thinking that he was allowing. ‘They say the brain shuts down in cryo sleep.’ He heard an echo in his mind, ‘All but the primitive side.’ Again a voice echoes his own thoughts. ‘The animal side.’ She echoes again, but it is different, her voice is familiar, but it isn’t Jack, or Rehtaeh. ‘All but the Furyan side.’   
From his periphery he could see her, walking before him, he turned his chair to face her. A warrior woman, all leather bracelets and beaded leather, scabbards and a sword, it was the woman from his visions in Butcher Bay. The woman who truly gave him his eye shine. Shirah. She walked towards him, down a path through a thicket of brambles and headstones and she spoke. “Some of us still remember the true crime that happened here on Furya, and once you wake, truly wake, you will remember too.” She reached out her hand, there was a gray smoke building up off of it, she reached towards him, and as she touched his chest, he woke. The alarms were blaring and someone was pinging his ship. The shields were rising on their own, the cryo disengaged, he was completely unprepared for the assault of light on his eyes. Radio alerts about a level four emergency being in place were calling over the com device, followed by a direct communication from a ship coming up behind him.   
“Unidentified craft you need to follow me to space port six for security inspection.” The voice called over the radio, Riddick was still trying to gain his bearings and get a grip of what was happening around him. He pulled down his goggles and prepared to engage. “Hey, do you hear me? Follow me to space port six, now.”  
The ship pulled up beside him and the stern looking man gave him a thumbs-down signaling to drop and make for port. Well, he would drop alright. But there was no way he was following anyone in for an inspection of any kind. Riddick growled and dropped then tilted left and dipped under the other ship, he realigned and then shifted straight up, knocking the other pilot off course and tumbling through the sky. Then he did drop low, following the rivers and lakes to the out skirts of the city to a large estate that over looked the water.   
There were changes to the house and the yard. There were two ships taking up the space on the dual landing pad so he had to fly over and land the merc ship on the river bank further away from the house. He left the tracking beacon on in the ship, knowing that the Merc would likely come after him. Then he walked towards the house taking in the changes. The first ship was a small sleek black beast that looked as though it could eat up the distance to anywhere. ‘Must be one of Rehtaeh’s new toys,’ He thought as he looked it over. He could imagine her in it. It looked like a racer of some type, built to be fast, he noticed the weaponry that was built into it. Did his lie about being married really cause that much trouble for Rehtaeh? It couldn’t be good if she was making her space craft into a war ship.  
The second was a massive hulk of a ship, it could easily accommodate ten people. “A fucking space yacht, who the hell needs a ship that big?” Carolyn came out of the back of the yacht, carrying a baby and calling back three little boys. That answered his question, from the look of the boys, the baby and Carolyn’s pregnant body; the Furyan had been very busy.  
A lot had changed, the siding was a light bluish gray now and there were red decorative shutters adorning the windows and the addition of some vegetation. It was less pretentious and screamed of Rehtaeh. There was a kids play area built along the side of the house with a large wading pool. There were toys strewn across the yard. A pain began to grow in his chest as he wondered if Rehtaeh was married now, if the kids were hers. Heath ducked out of the front door of the house, gun drawn and took one hard look at Riddick, his eyes were narrowed for a long moment. He came bounding down the steps with a feral grin on his face. It instantly reminded him of Rehtaeh’s. They clasped hands and clapped each other on the shoulder in greeting, and then Heath decked him. Riddick shook off the hit and glared at the other man. What the hell?  
“Two hundred, sixty seven, Riddick, her count is higher. You either actually marry her, or be here to tell the Mercs to fuck off.” Heath growled at him as he looked Riddick over. He did the same. There was something off about the Furyan. He seemed diminished somehow. Whatever it was it didn’t keep the large black haired man from being an imposing figure.   
“I see you have been busy.” Riddick grinned at the little family. He was glad that he stopped in, especially since it looked as though Carolyn was about to leave. “You going somewhere?”  
“Quintessa. We have friends there.” Carolyn told him, a sad smile on her face. She turned to Heath and he turned to follow her into the ship.  
“Rehtaeh is in her gym.” Heath growled before he strode away, ducking into the back of the ship.  
Riddick could hear the grunts and the heavy hits on the leather bag ringing out from the back of the house. Heath was right, she was in the gym. He walked to the far side of the house. He came around the last corner, there was a large glass building that looked like it was filled with paintings of every shape and size. He walked past it and the gym came into view. He could see the bag swinging violently, but Rehtaeh was nowhere to be found. He walked toward the pool, maybe she had gone inside to change, or shower. He saw her dark glasses on the ground a second later, still clattering as though they were just discarded.  
He was half way around the deep end of the pool, all he saw was the sweep of a shadow before she was on him. He didn’t have any time to grab a shiv. No time to brace for the impact, they both fell backwards into the pool. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands in his hair. He saw a flash of red rimmed eyes before she kissed him full on the mouth. She didn’t release him, her legs held him to her like they were made of iron. Her lips and tongue devoured his like he was manna from heaven and she was starving to death. Her hands were ripping at his clothing, pulling layer after layer off of him. The heaviness of the wet swirling cloth and fur didn’t seem to slow her down in any way.   
She had never come after him like this before; he always initiated their lovemaking. His own hands seemed to have a mind of their own, they touched her smooth hard muscular legs, gripped her tight round bottom, pulling her harder against him. She wore the tightest little gym shorts, barely covering her entire ass. He squeezed and let his hands slip up under the hem. So hot, so sexy. Her back was still finely muscled he could feel the ropes of muscles under her silky flesh. His exploring fingers stopped briefly on a scar across her spine. That was new. His fingers continued their exploration. Then he felt the barrier of her sports bra and he tugged it up, baring her breasts for his hands to explore.   
Neither of them seemed to have any need to breathe; they were both completely consumed with touching each other. As much as he denied himself, five years was too long to have missed this, to have missed her. She pulled up on his shirt, her hands finding his flesh underneath. He felt her growl of appreciation against his lips, as she made contact, she pulled her lips away from his only long enough to pull the fabric up and over his head. He pulled her bra the rest of the way, while they were apart. His eyes met hers through the water of the pool, her eyes were wild, beastly and she was his. Through the water he saw a feral grin lift her lips. She kissed his hair covered face, his chin, his jaw, his cheek bones and brow. She was like a child planting chaste kisses all over his face, as though she were cherishing him. Then she took his mouth again, she was devouring him, full out biting, nipping, licking at his lips. She unhooked her legs and he growled at the distance she was creating until he realized that she was unbuckling his boots, and undoing his pants pushing the last of his barriers off of him. When she was done she pushed her shorts off her legs and then she was back.  
They were both naked in the pool, he and his wild mermaid. There was only one thing that was left to be done. He grabbed the tail of her long hair and pulled out the cord that held it in place. He unraveled her braid and felt her hair spread about them in a fan of silk, floating and swirling around them, caressing their skin, as it wrapped itself around them. He grabbed her and pulled her back against him, impaling himself into her hot sweet depths. Her back arched against him, her full breasts brushing intimately against his chest, her pert, perky nipples already hard from her arousal. He ran his hands over and around them, kneading them gently, rolling the pink nubs in between his finger and thumb. He wanted her screams, and he couldn’t have that under the water. He started walking on the bottom of the pool towards the shallow end, using each step to create friction between them.   
Finally their heads broke the surface of the water and they both took gasping breaths, neither of them wanting to lose any contact, or any ground in this tempestuous little war that she had started. He held her body to his own, pumping into and out of her in a mindless need that had both of them gasping for air. Her hips were rolling and undulating to meet each of his thrusts. “Please, Richard. Help me please, help me find release.”  
This wasn’t enough for either of them, he needed to go deeper, to find that center, and she needed him, she was begging him to make her scream. He hauled her out of the pool and onto one of the lounge chairs. Water was dripping everywhere, neither of them even noticed. Their passion was all consuming. He sat back and adjusted her weight on top of him, straddling his hips. He helped her find her rhythm as she rode him, faster and faster she rolled her hips against his, she was breathing hard, reaching for the apex of her sexual pleasure. Impatient, he pulled her hard against him finally getting enough leverage on her hips to reach that spot deep within her, and he drove himself against it again and again. He could feel her climax as it built around him. Until finally she screamed his name again and again, as her walls clenched around him, forcing him into a climax of his own. His entire body seemed to implode from the force of their encounter. Finally they came down; her still straddling him, keeping him deep within her she rested her head on his chest, so she could listen to the beat of his heart. She was tracing circles on his chest, following the lines of his muscles. He was tracing her spine, his fingers brushed over the scar again and she went perfectly still. He twined his fingers into her long luscious silver blonde hair and gently pulled her head up so he could look at her.   
“It’s not a dream, you are really here. Why are you here Richard? It is still not safe. There were Mercs sniffing around here for you just a few days back.” She whispered to him, her voice was filled with so many emotions. “They always think I am gullible enough to lead them to you. They think they can buy me off or intimidated me.”  
“Someone put a price on my head.” Riddick told her, waiting for her response. She froze, stiffened and then rose so she could look him in the eyes. “One point five mil, and the Mercs seemed to know just where to find me. I only told one person where I might go, and I know you saw the map. I was certain it wasn’t you before but now I know for sure who it was. When was the last time you talked to Imam.”  
“I see him daily, but the last time we really talked? Two maybe three years?” Rehtaeh said, her voice was sad, her eyes were even more so. “A lot of shit happened. Words were said, blame was placed. We made amends after I returned from Quintessa, but we are by no means friends.”  
“Reh! It’s time to go! We are being called in!” Heath’s voice called from the far side of the house.   
“Shit. I am sorry Riddick, I gotta go. I am in the reserves, and with the Necro threat, I am on active duty.” She moved to sit up, but his hand in her hair held her in place on top of him. He was hard again, her movement against him and being still embedded deep within her had done nothing to cool his need for her. He pulled her lips against his and flipped her over so that she was under him. Then he took her again, making her scream for him louder and more violently than the time before. When he finally released her, she stood on shaky legs. “Someday I will figure out why your touch drives me so wild, Riddick.”  
“Having trouble finding someone compatible?” Riddick asked her looking into the pool at his clothes resting at the bottom of its depths.   
“No, I found an entire planet of people who are compatible,” She said over her shoulder walking towards the change rooms and the inside of the house. A growl left him involuntarily at the thought of so many possible suitors. She laughed when she heard it, “Not one of them could set me on fire. None of them are you.”  
He watched her as she walked into the house, she had never been the type of woman to sashay or away her hips, it was always a prowl, but now it was as though some new nuance was added. Something darker seemed to follow her, something he could not quite place. He dived into the pool and hauled out all of his cloths and weapons. He left the furs and the extra layers on a lounge chair to dry; there was no need for them on this planet. He wore only his black pants, his tank top, his boots and a cloak. When he joined them in front of the house he was dressed and his clothes were quickly drying out in the hot mid day sun.  
Heath was wearing a military combat uniform, his heavy duty-belt carried an assortment of weapons and gear. Carolyn and her posse of little people followed her. There were tears on her face as she asked him, “Do you have to go Heath? Is there any way I can convince you to come with us?”  
“I will die as I lived, a warrior, I want you to remember me as such.” Heath told her pulling her and the baby into his arms. He held her close. “When I gave you my mark you knew this. I am a fighter, a soldier, a warrior. It is my destiny to die as such. You accepted my mark knowing this. Honor me by staying strong and raising our children to be strong and noble.”  
“I swear it, Heath, I will honor you in every way that I can.” Carolyn swore to him. Her tears didn’t stop falling. “Mark me again, Heath, before you go.”  
“Are you certain, Carolyn? A blood oath, it is-,” Heath started and Carolyn looked him steadily in the eye. Riddick couldn’t help but watch the intrigue of the intimate scene unfolding in front of him.   
“Sacred and Binding. I know Heath.” She handed Riddick the baby, he looked down at the tiny pink bundle that was now wiggling in his arms. She was looking up at him with deep dark eyes, cooing and gurgling up at him, reaching for the hair on his face.   
He turned his attention to the couple in front of him as he watched them carve their initials into the palms of each other’s left palms. When the blood gathered in their palms they pressed them together and spoke in unison, “Warrior, Lover, Mate, Bound by Blood, Heart and Soul United, Until the End of Time.”  
“The hell?” Riddick asked as he looked between the couple. He waited for Carolyn to take care of her wound and handed the wiggling child back to her mother.   
“We just renewed our vows Riddick,” Heath chuckled, as he wiped the blood away with a handkerchief. “Blood oaths are an old Furyan tradition.”  
“How old?” Riddick asked rolling his eyes behind his goggles. It seemed like an antiquated tradition to him.  
“Ask Rehtaeh. She started it.” Heath laughed and glanced over Riddick’s shoulder. Riddick didn’t need to turn around to know she was walking up behind him. He could sense her movements, hear her smell her, feel her. She was bound to someone? The thought of this didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t know why.  
“What do you mean, she started it.” He turned and watched her approach, every thought went out the window. She was wearing dark black jeans a black t-shirt and a long black cloak jacket that had tendrils of red lace flowing off of it. The tails of the coat were split so that they flowed around her like tentacles or ribbons of shadow. She wore a pair of glasses that fit tight to her skin, allowing for no extra light to get to her sensitive eyes. She wore her usual arsenal of weapons. He nearly missed the addition of her composite compound bow and the massive double quiver of arrows that she wore on her back. Her silver blonde braid was pulled back into a low bun at the back of her head. He forgot how stunning his warrior queen was.   
“Aren’t you gonna be warm in that?” Riddick asked her looking at the heavy jacket. He fought the desire to pull her hair out of the bun.   
“It is never warm in the shadows, Riddick.” She returned her voice was cool, clipped, business like, but the Cheshire smile on her face was just for him. He felt his chest tighten for just a moment, he forgot what that smile did to him. She looked at the cuff on his arm, with the knotted hilt and the skinning blade hidden within. Her face became hard for a moment before she shook whatever she was thinking away. So many new things about her, he had missed so much. She turned to Carolyn and gave the other woman a brief hug. Then the three boys all jumped on her for hugs too. She laughed as they pulled her to her knees and smothered her in kisses and hugs. “You boys be good and protect your mum. Warrior’s blood oath, remember?”  
She looked up at Heath and winked. They all clasped her right hand and they spoke together, “Furyan Warriors, Battle Sworn, Battle Fought, Bound by Blood, We Stand as One.”  
“Good boys, Go on now, go buckle in, your mom will be in there in a minute.” Heath told them, and the boys scampered away. “I can’t believe you taught them the Warrior Blood Oath.”  
“What? It’s not like I cut them, we just painted our marks in red dye,” Rehtaeh grinned up at her nephew, turning up a palm that was covered with faded red dye. Through the dye Riddick could see a bunch of small scars similar to the one that Heath had just given Carolyn. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. He looked at her hand and studied the small scars that covered the fleshy part of her palm. He grabbed her other hand and looked at her palm. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and wary as he touched a singular ‘R’ scarred into her flesh. He growled, and she tried to pull her hand away.  
“What is this?” Riddick growled as he pressed his thumb into the mark. He pointedly ignored Heath and Carolyn as they said goodbye and Carolyn lifted the ship up off the ground and took off into the blue sky. The big ship moved much faster than he would have thought it could for such a bulky monster.  
“A blood oath mark,” Rehtaeh said, trying again to pull her hand out of his grasp. He tightened his grip, he knew he was hurting her, but she was withholding something, “To signify an eternal friendship.”  
“It is on your left hand.” Riddick growled, he couldn’t explain the choked anger that consumed him.  
“Grayson was my best friend.” Rehtaeh pulled her palm away before she turned and stalked towards the massive steel building that housed her vehicles. She opened the huge doors and walked inside. There were several more hover bikes than there were last time. One of them was a military grade Responder it was a massive black hover bike, there were two massive automatic weapons attached the front wheel well, the back of the bike held massive rocket engines. Heath took his seat on this one, and Rehtaeh climbed on behind him, straddling the massive machine. Rehtaeh looked up at Riddick her face solemn showing no emotion. She looked up at the sky, as though she could see beyond the bright blue sky and she shivered.   
She glanced at the Merc ship that was sitting on the river bank near her landing pads, and then turned a cold face to him. Her lips pressed together in a line. “Who’s after you this time that you would leave the locator beacon on? Who are you luring to my doorstep? Who do I have to kill this time?”  
“What does it matter?” Riddick asked her, she had gone cold again and he was tempted to remind her who she was dealing with.  
“How many Mercs do I have to kill for you before you get it?” She snapped at him, he could tell she was glaring at him behind her glasses her face was very expressive. He watched her as she took a deep breath and calmed herself, she made a hand motion for Heath before she looked back at him and said softly. “You may help yourself to whatever you need, Riddick. That includes the weapons vault. Whatever may come, I love you. Do not forget.”   
Heath revved the throttle and released the brake, taking off like a bat out of hell. What the hell was that about? He pulled the dust cover off of the large piece of machinery in the back. It was larger than Heath’s but without the massive guns, a massive toy that would get him into and out of the city in no time. He straddled the beast and followed behind Heath, the doors of the Quonset closing automatically behind him.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40  
Riddick  
He made it to Imam’s house in good time. He hid the hover bike in an area where foot traffic was less, and went the rest of the way on foot. The doors were locked and yet he could hear that there were people home. He picked the lock sliding his pins into the tumbler and spinning them until it clicked open. Imam was not yet home. There was a woman home, he could hear the shower and heard her humming as she bathed. Imam was nowhere to be seen. So Riddick stood in the kitchen and waited. The heat of this planet reminded him of why he preferred to be shaved. Rehtaeh hadn't complained about the hair, but he wanted to feel her kisses on his skin, not in his hair. It had to go. He took out his blade and started to scrape the offending locks off of his scalp and face.  
He was almost done when Imam finally walked into the door. He seemed hesitant and uncertain, as though under great distress and concern. He took two steps up the stairs when Riddick spoke, stopping him mid step. “Did you know your doors were locked?”  
The man turned looking for the source of the voice. He backed down the stairs and searched for Riddick. He pulled the blade over his scalp cutting away the last of his dreaded hair.   
“Five years ago, I took five people off that planet, a warrior woman with long blonde hair, a kid, Jack, who everyone else thought was a boy, a dying pilot and a holy man and his son, searching for New Mecca.” There was a noise upstairs and Imam cast a worried glance at the railing above them. “Your wife? She’s in the shower.” Riddick walked slowly towards the holy man, he could see, hear and smell the fear building within him. “I told one man where I might go. I showed trust to one man. Did I make a mistake Imam?”  
“There’s no simple answer,” as always the holy man’s voice sounded almost majestic. Riddick drew his blade and put the cutting edge to Imam’s throat, he didn’t like where this was going. He had turned on him, but the man seemed to think that there could be a just reasoning. He would hear the holy man out. There was another presence up stairs, other than the wife who was just getting out of the shower. He started to listen for it. “Whatever was said, was meant to give us a chance. A fighting chance. Were it not for the threat of invasion, I would have never betrayed you. I give you my word Riddick.”  
“Riddick?” a soft childlike voice called from upstairs. It was filled with curiosity and awe. He turned to look up and sure enough there was a young girl, between the ages of seven or eight, dark skin, dark eyes and thick curly hair that framed her curious face.   
The wife was fixing a towel around her hair as she walked into the conversation. Her voice was filled more with horror and fear. “Riddick?” Her mothering instincts took over and she reached for the little girl.   
“A daughter, whose name, would be?” Riddick moved away from Imam to the base of the stairs looking up. Her mother was pulling the child back away from the stranger, she was protective. Smart woman. He thought of Rehtaeh with Heath’s children, the sound of her laughter as they pulled her into their hugs and kisses. She would make a great mother. He shook the thought away.  
“If you have issue with me let it be with me. You need not know their names.” Imam said, trying to protect his family, thinking that for some reason Riddick would do something to the child. As though he would, ever, take the life of a child.   
“Ziza, my name is Ziza,” The girl said looking down at him from her mother’s arms, pulling forward against her. He moved to block the staircase, reaching his hands out to each side and looked up at the impetuous child. He heard Imam’s sigh of defeat.  
“Ziza.” He tried her name, letting her know that her response was important. He looked back at Imam, “Cute kid.”  
He was about to turn away when, Ziza’s curious voice called out to him. “Did you really kill monsters?” She asked him. “The ones that were going to hurt Suleiman and my father?”  
He looked at Imam, his eyebrow quirked, how would the child know something like that? “Such are our bedtime stories.” Imam’s wife moved the girl, telling her to go now, and then she followed the child down the hall. Riddick knew then that he couldn’t take this out on the holy man.  
“So who do I have to kill to get this payday off my head?” He asked resigned to the mess that Imam hauled him into. Why the hell did people always try to drag him into their troubles? Imam led him to a study on the second floor. The holy man left for several moments to use a communications device and contact the person who put out the contract on him. After all these years he still found it odd that with all the available technology, New Mecca seemed to shun the use of it. It was as though they were afraid of the implications of science. Only the Alliance headquarters and Rehtaeh seemed to embrace the machines. If her new ship was any indication, she was very invested in the science of technology. When Imam returned he found Riddick sitting in the quiet, the open balcony windows letting in a slight breeze, Imam stood beside the window looking out.   
“Where is Suleiman? Where is your son?” Riddick asked the boy’s scent was faint in the house, as though he spent very little time there.   
“He lives at the military base,” Imam said quietly, humbly. He didn’t look at Riddick at all when he said the rest, “Something happened just over four years ago, there were some attacks on Jack and Suleiman. He was hurt very badly. When he woke, he was changed. He told me that Rehtaeh had been teaching him Tai Chi behind my back as a form of exercise and meditation. He said the only reason he survived the attack was because of what she taught him. He was angry that he could not protect Jack, so he joined the military. You know I do not condone violence, so he moved onto the military base.”  
“So he is out there?” Riddick asked, knowing that Rehtaeh and Heath were out there somewhere.   
“Preparing for war, yes. I blamed her for so long, even though I knew that it was Suleiman who made the decision. If she just dealt with things differently, rather than always choosing violence,” Imam stopped, he was lost in thought for a long time. “There were Mercs here for you every other day, she never told me how many, but I was in a position with the city council which dealt with the birth and death records. Within three months, the Alliance cremated the remains of over eighty Mercs.”  
“You are saying that she was responsible for those deaths?” Riddick growled he didn’t like where this was going. When had Rehtaeh turned into a killer?  
“No, of course not, she was constantly under attack. There were several times that there was video footage, she was always on the defensive, but she didn’t have to kill them. There were many that she could have left alive and pressed charges and she did not.” Imam told him, his tone was grave and saddened. “I wonder sometimes if she influenced Suleiman somehow. She can be very persuasive.”  
“Get to the point Imam.” Riddick was getting impatient. Where the hell were these people that Imam called, what was taking them so long to arrive?  
“I have been part of political circles ever since I arrived here, Riddick. Even Rehtaeh has the ear of several high-ranking politicians. She is well respected. We have enjoyed great times of peace, the people have enjoyed times of prosperity. War with anyone has always been the farthest thing from our minds. So when news of this impending threat came, and Rehtaeh became very passionate, the leaders of New Mecca listened. When I was told that there was a comet headed our direction, and that it portended the death of all people of a planet I just brushed it off. At the time there was no sign of such a comet. I thought she was crazy. We have been preparing but she says we are nowhere near ready.” Imam said thoughtfully. He seemed very reflective tonight. He looked up at the comet. He was silent for a very long time. A great sadness seemed to overwhelm him for a moment before he continued.  
“It is said that the comet always precedes them. These world enders.” Imam said as he stood looking out the window, up at the comet. He was worrying his prayer beads. “The Colsack planets are gone, Eight million settlers missing. The entire Aquilan system too. Helion Prime shares its sunlight with all worlds nearby. If we fall they fall, and after that-. My God, how do I save my family? I should have listened sooner. I should have taken Carolyn’s offer.”   
Ziza was back, spying on them in the shadows, hiding behind the intricate wooden screens that separated the rooms. His silence must have gotten to the Holy Man because he turned to him. “Have you heard anything I’ve said?”  
“You said it’s all circling the drain, the whole universe. Right?” Riddick was studying the door beside him, and looking at Ziza watching them.   
“That’s right.” Imam acknowledged him. Riddick closed the door a little shutting out the little girl.   
“It had to end sometime.” Riddick replied looking up at the man. There was a loud knock at the door and Imam went below to greet his guests. Riddick stayed in his seat and waited as three men came up the stairs and were formally greeted and blessed as they entered the study.  
“The one you want is now here,” Imam told him. Riddick rose closing the doors tight, if there was fighting he did not want the girl to see it. He turned to the men. They were all dressed in dark robes, their faces covered. He pulled the mask off of the first one, and dismissed him, then the next and finally the last. None of these men had placed the bounty, he would bet his life on it. Then he felt it. The disturbance in the air. The candles flickered in the darkened room. He pulled his knife and moved it quickly to the right of him as an older woman materialized out of the air. She stopped, still as a statue at the feel of his blade on her throat.  
“And whose throat is this?” He asked darkly. He was not interested in the games and ploys of other people.  
“If you cut my throat, I won’t be able to rescind the offer that brought you here.” The woman told him, she remained stoic as she looked up at him, her face was proud and she was in no way afraid of him. This was new. “Or tell you why it is so vital that you did come.”  
“The blade comes off when the bounty comes off,” Riddick growled back at her.   
“This is Aereon, an envoy from the elemental race,” Imam said as he came up from behind him on his left, putting a hand on Riddick’s shoulder. “She means you no harm.”  
The elemental swirled away on a gust of air as he turned towards the window. What the hell would an elemental want to do with him? What had he done to any of them? She rematerialized behind them and everyone but Riddick turned toward her sudden reappearance. He turned slowly as she spoke. “There are very few of us who have met a Necromonger and lived to speak of it. So when I choose to speak, you should choose to listen.”  
“Necromonger?” Riddick asked, this was new, not a name he had heard before. No, that wasn’t true, Rehtaeh said Necro earlier, before she left with Heath. They were preparing for war.   
“It is the name that will convert or kill every last human life, unless the universe can rebalance itself,” Aereon told him.  
“Maybe you should pretend like you’re talking to someone educated in the penal system,” Riddick told her, wanting her to make this quick, she talked too much. “In fact don’t pretend.”  
“Balance is everything to elementals. Fire to water, earth to air, we have thirty-three different words for it.” Aereon looked up at him, meeting his steady gaze. “But now we only have time to speak of the balance of opposites.”  
“There is a story Riddick, of young male Furyans, strangled at birth, strangled with their own cords. When Aereon told this story to the Helion leaders, I told her of you.” Imam told him he moved away from the group as they spoke of this, it was his history, or what he had heard about it. He really didn’t remember a whole lot about his birth or where he had come from. This sounded more along something Rehtaeh and Heath should be involved in. They both had the blood of Furya in their veins.  
“What do you know of your early years?” One of the guards asked him. Taking a step towards him.   
Imam stepped closer, “What do you remember of your home world? Where it was?”  
“Have you met any others?” the guard asked him next. How to answer that one, Heath was a man out of time, and yet he had very few traits that were like his, or even like Rehtaeh’s. Imam was never told about Heath’s past, they purposely kept it quiet, and Rehtaeh was forbidden to speak of hers.   
“Others like yourself?” Aereon added, coming up beside him.   
“Sister, they don’t know what to do with just one of me.” He turned to her in almost anger, meeting her eye. He would not out the only two people who had ever been truly loyal to him.   
“There is Rehtaeh, why didn’t I think of it sooner?” Imam gasped as he thought of the girl, he turned to Aereon. Aereon brushed him off shaking her head.  
“Rehtaeh is not a Furyan, she is of the bloodline, but she is not of the planet Furya.” Aereon shook her head gently, slowly. She knew Rehtaeh? How was this? He looked at the woman waiting for her to explain herself, “She is something entirely different. Heath is not a candidate either, he is Furyan but he does not possess the strength to be the one we need. Not in his condition.”  
“What condition?” Riddick asked, looking up at the Elemental in surprise. Imam looked between the two also surprised. Riddick knew something was wrong with the Furyan, but no one had told him what. Their meeting had been very brief. “What is wrong with Heath?”  
“He is in the late stages of a CryoSynthesis Cryogen Leukemia. He has less than three months to live.” Aereon looked between Imam and Riddick, her intelligent eyes picking up everything said and unsaid. “So you know Heath? And Rehtaeh. That explains her unwillingness to discuss the warrior.”  
There was a banging at the door. He looked down from the shadows of the balcony to the doorway below him. They were soldiers. Imam’s wife burst into the study speaking of spies, that they thought he was a spy. Her eyes glanced at him in fury, and undisguised contempt, she did not like that he had darkened her door.   
“I will send them away, but wait one minute, will you wait one minute to save worlds?” Imam was pleading with him. He really seemed to think that he could do something to stop this impending doom. Like what? From the sounds of it these killers were coming with an army. He was just one man, a convict, who preferred the darkness and the silence. He was not their hero. Why did everyone think that he could save them?  
Riddick snapped his jaw tight, spitting out his next words, “Not My Fight.”  
“So you will leave us to our fate? Just like you did her.” Riddick was about to go out the window when Imam said that. There was only one ‘her’ not accounted for. Jack. What did the man have to say about her? Rehtaeh said that she had not spoken to Imam since her return from a trip off world. That words were spoken and blame was placed. She said nothing about Jack. What happened to the girl?   
“Come let us try to send them away,” Imam said as he pulled everyone out of the room with him, he closed the doors to the study, running to stop the soldiers from coming after him. Leaving Riddick alone to stew with those thoughts, he looked out over the city. Rehtaeh was out there somewhere, preparing for this war, and he was stuck here with a bounty on his head, Mercs on his ass and soldiers coming for his hide.  
The doors below were kicked in The Alliance military pulled out every member of the household. Searching for him. There was no way they were going to relent, no way that they were going to give up their prize without a fight. He doused every candle in the room, leaving only two and he stood there with has back to the study doors and he waited.   
He heard it open behind him, there were several guards all holding guns. He held his hands up as though he were willing to be taken, then he lowered them over the flame, ignoring the pain and extinguishing the massive candles as he said, “You’re not afraid of the dark are you?”   
The room went completely dark, he turned and hit two, kicked the gun away from one soldier and dropped low as they started to shoot, effectively killing another with friendly fire. He grabbed a candlestick and took out the knee of one of his attackers and the jaw of another, knocking him back. There were more shots taken from dead fingers as his attackers fell away. The furniture and walls were destroyed with stray bullets as the soldiers tried in vain to take him out. He slammed the candlestick into the stomach of one man throwing him against one of the bookshelves and turned swinging at head of another, before hiding up in the rafters, as the men called out to each other trying to search him out. There were two left, he pushed the doors closed below him with his feet, making them spin in surprise and he dropped behind them. He picked up the first man and threw him hard at the railing of the mezzanine he dropped from the second story to the floor below, landing hard on a massive table. The last soldier’s gunfire tore through the walls of the study as he tried to find Riddick in the darkness. He was easy to avoid and skirted the weapon, picking the man up he threw him through the door into the main living area.   
He came out and walked around the corner, where yet another soldier was holding Imam, holding him there under knifepoint. The man took one look at Riddick overshadowing him, without a scratch on him, and he hadn’t even broken a sweat. The man dropped his knife and ran. If this was what the Alliance and New Mecca had for army they were definitely doomed. He thought of Heath and Rehtaeh for a moment. They were the best defense this world had to offer and it was just the two of them. It seemed as though they were all in the same boat.   
He looked at Imam, “You mentioned her.”  
“There was a lot of trouble. She uh, she went looking for you. People died, she went to prison,” Imam said, he was visibly upset. His home was torn apart, his life in a shambles and the world was about to be ripped apart. Yet somehow there was a lot that he left unsaid. There was a story there that was not being told. “I don’t remember where, but it was a world that was so hot you could not survive on the surface.”  
“Crematoria,” Riddick said. Triple Max Penitentiary. A no daylight slam. She was looking for an eye-shine, would she never learn? It was just a fucking story made up to rattle Carolyn, besides no one would ever believe the real story about the eye shine. Hell, there were days that he preferred his made up story than the real one, it was easier for him to believe. For the longest time he was certain that he was going crazy, maybe he still was, but after having the dream while in cryo during his trip to New Mecca. What if he wasn’t going insane?  
“Young Jack, she thought of you as her older brother. She worshipped you.” Imam told him, bitterly.  
“You were supposed to watch her, until Carolyn came back,” Riddick growled at him as he made his way down the stairs. He understood why Rehtaeh had not been in contact with the Holy Man.   
“I did. Carolyn and Heath couldn’t control her. Rehtaeh tried to help and was nearly killed. She never forgave you, for leaving, just when she needed you most.” His voice was accusing. It was as though they had not already discussed this five years before. Imam had been the one saying that Jack should stay, that she should have a normal life. That Rehtaeh was not a good enough role model, and that Riddick was too dangerous.  
“She needed to stay away from me, you all do.” Riddick reminded him, as he walked out the door. He made his way out to the street. Walking away from all of them, he was not good around people. They should just learn to live with it. Deal with it.   
“Riddick!” Ziza’s small voice called out to him, she looked up with her big curious eyes, eyes too wise for a child her age. “Are you going to stop the new monsters now?”  
He looked down at her dark beseeching eyes, then back at Imam standing in the doorway and up to where he knew that Aereon was watching on the balcony. He raised the hood on his cloak and walked away. He heard Aereon mutter, “Furyans, defiant to the end, just like the Shadow Mage.”


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41  
Rehtaeh  
When Riddick showed up she was working on strengthening her powers during daylight. Learning to hide during daylight was hard to accomplish, especially if you were trying to move about a room, or a city where shadows rarely connect. Now that she could do that with ease she had moved onto much harder tasks. Jumping from one shadow to an unconnected shadow was even harder, technically it was one of the skills Zephora had told her she wouldn’t posess until after her first cycle was over. She figured it was just another rule to be broken and after a few tries she found it could be done, she just needed to get stronger. Her gym was the perfect place, it was so open and filled with light, but she was weakening too quickly, in a moment of frustration she had started hitting her heavy bag. Releasing her frustration.  
The moment she felt his presence she hid in the shadows, watching as he approached her. His eyes flicked to the heavy bag as it jerked under her final punch. As she dropped her glasses to the ground her primal animal side took over and she jumped him feeling more powerful than she had in years. He was her strength. She knew then that she had been missing some intricate part of her. He was the one person in the world who could take away the constant stream of cold, and she missed that connection with him. Even on Quintessa where she had found thousands of people with a family connection, their touch was like Heath’s, lukewarm. It was never more than that. In five years not a single person she met could make her burn, sear her flesh and warm her to the core all at once. Only Riddick was able to do that for her.   
She thought about his reaction to her mark on her left palm. He acted like she betrayed him in some way. They were intimate countless times, he explored every inch of her body, not once did the mark ever come up before. Why the hell was it so important now? He couldn’t be jealous, could he? No, that was not a Riddick thing. He was protective, and possessive, but jealousy would be an admission of intense emotional attachment. How did he even know what the mark meant, that the fact that it was on her left and not her right signified a different bond than the one she shared with the boys? There was no way except for-. ‘Wait. I smelled blood when I came outside; Carolyn and Heath were wiping their left palms. Fuck, they blood bonded in front of Riddick. Now he thinks I’m bound to someone else.’ She thought, she furrowed her brow and then tried to consider his reaction when she told him that the mark was made by his ancestor. Crap, that could go either way with Riddick, he would either think it amusing, or extremely insulting. It troubled her deeply.  
On top of that, she was pissed at him. She wasn’t sure if she was angry with him for leaving the Merc ship’s beacon on or the fact that she recognized the damn thing. It was Toombs’ ship. She would know that piece of shit undercutter anywhere. Of all the damn ass jackets he could lure to her doorstep, it had to be the one she couldn’t kill. ‘Fuck,’ she thought, ‘this day went from bliss to balls within thirty seconds of seeing that damn ship, and it’s only gonna get worse.’ She pressed her hand into a shadow and looked through the fringes to the cluster of ships that were growing ever closer. Her gut clenched as she worried her lip.   
She shook off her thoughts and memories and returned to the present moment, the war that was about to happen. They reported for duty at the main military campus. Heath was her partner on the field, and no one from the Alliance would even consider splitting them up into separate teams. Because of their particular strengths and abilities they would be on the front lines together, both air and ground support. Standing alone they were both a better shot than most of the other highest ranking soldiers, as a team they were the best of the best. The Alliance kept them together because Heath seemed to keep Rehtaeh’s chaotic nature in line, and for the most part following orders.   
They were hovering over the main campus getting their last instructions before heading out into the field. They gathered munitions and packed the saddlebags to the brim. A Private handed her a flak jacket and told her she had to wear it. She glared at him and tried to put it back until she heard Heath’s growl behind her.  
“I don’t see why I have to wear this thing, it’s just going to weigh me down during the jumps.” She growled at him. “Besides, where’s yours?”  
“Just humor me, Rehtaeh.” Heath growled back, running a frustrated hand down his face, “I will put mine on later. I hope Riddick sticks around this time, so he can deal with your nonsense.”  
She shot him a dark glare as she put on the flak jacket under her long cloak jacket, standard military issue, she hated them but Heath’s glare stopped her from further complaining. They would be doing patrols, trying to guide people to the shelters. Being a public figure, she was a target on a good day, and with tensions running so high she became an even greater target. When the hell had she become so respectable that she had to worry about people other than Mercs? She secretly blamed Imam, Tiller and the Commandant. They were the ones who insisted that she attend community meetings. Even being gone for the greater part of three years hadn’t slowed down her rise in the public eye. Another thing Riddick did not need.  
They hopped onto the Responder and headed out into the city streets. Slowly they moved among the throngs of people, handing out the shelter maps to the public, trying to convince them to get off of the streets. So many of them were afraid to leave their homes for fear of vandalism, yet they would all be much safer in a shelter, underground where the Necromongers would not find them. The streets would also be much easier to traverse, and there would be less chance of civilian casualties. She looked at the bright sky beyond the clouds and into the shadows of the universe. She shivered. They were close. They would land tonight.  
“Tonight, they land tonight. Heath, we need to get these people moving.” Rehtaeh looked up at her nephew; her voice was quiet for his ears only.   
“You know that they are not going to move, not until they are good and ready.” Heath looked over his shoulder at her. He manoeuvred the massive bike slowly through the streets. He was right these people were alerted due to the greater military presence but they were in no way in such a state that they would willingly enter into the shelters that had been built below the city. “I hope Carrie got away from them okay.”  
She reached into the shadows looking for the yacht, she couldn’t see it. Whether it was out of range or just too deep into the shadows, she wasn’t sure. There was a knot in her stomach as she considered the possibility of them being attacked during their escape. Her wrist computer had a com link to the ship, but any transmissions would be tracked and the last thing she wanted was to draw attention to them. Carolyn had promised that she would send a message once they reached Quintessa.   
“I don’t see them, I told her to head directly to deep space, so I am going to take it as good news. She will be far away from the fighting going on here.” She knew what was coming, tonight would change the face of this planet forever. The thought was profound. Heath was fighting tonight because he could not imagine dying in a bed, fading away, allowing an illness to tear him apart. He wanted to go out as a warrior. She respected that, it was the way she would want to go. “This may be our last battle, Heath. Will you honor me by allowing me to mark you, in a blood bond?”  
“It would be my honor to bond with you.” He pulled into a quiet spot on the crowded street.   
They each pulled a blade and made their marks and said the words. There was always a feeling of power that surged through her during a blood bond, and from the look in Heath’s eyes, he felt the energy as well. It was powerful to be bound to someone by blood and oath. Rehtaeh clapped her other hand on Heath’s shoulder. “Thank you, Heath. I have caused you so much trouble and you have never complained about any of it. There have been so many battles, and I don’t recall ever thanking you for backing me up.”  
“Rehtaeh, that’s what family does.” Heath pulled her close. He gave her a quick hug and released her, then settled back into his seat and pulled the massive hover bike back out and continued to move among the crowd of people. She could hear them talking. Some were fearful, some were in complete denial, everyone talked about the comet, what it would portend, they planned to go to the shelters, but only when the danger was imminent.   
“It’s the end of everything! Everything!” one man cried. Rehtaeh saw Imam walking through the crowd; he seemed greatly troubled by the words he was hearing. There should be more people in the shelters, not talking about them.  
“Take your family to shelter, Imam. You should have accepted our offer and sent them with Carolyn.” Rehtaeh told him from her perch on the back of Heath’s bike. The holy man turned to her, surprise registered on his face. They were both active participants in the city’s council meetings. He knew that she had the ear of the Elemental Emissary, as well as those in the higher Alliance Military bases. They both attended the meetings, often times on the same side, sometimes as opponents. Very rarely did they speak directly to each other. Out of respect for his family she would give him another warning, it was up to him to heed that warning. “They come tonight.”  
“Suleiman, will he be engaging-,” Imam looked at Rehtaeh for a long moment his eyes still harbored a glint of anger towards her and her influence on his son. He was still angry that Suleiman joined the military after he recovered from his wounds. He blamed her for that. Heath and Imam greeted each other in a manner of respect.  
“We are all engaging in combat tonight Imam. You should be proud of Suleiman he has become a very strong young man.” Rehtaeh told him softly before giving the man his space. She could feel Imam’s eyes on her for a long moment before continuing on his way. They were keeping pace with the man and Rehtaeh was wondering if Heath was doing it on purpose, trying to get the two to reconcile. She knew that he hoped for that. The voices of the people surrounded them, drowning out her thoughts, “-half my street is gone.” Another man was saying.  
“Hood of the Devil, that’s what someone called them.” A woman was saying to her friends. So much talk, not enough action.   
“Them? Who is them?” another woman asked her friend, her voice rising in concern.  
“It’s nonsense, all nonsense!” a man was trying to convince his friends. “Everyone is over-reacting!”  
Rehtaeh was getting restless, seeing into the shadows, seeing the massive ships get closer and closer. She was ready to fight. She wanted to take the battle to them, the Shadow Hunter could take out some of those ships, but she was forbidden. A low growl caught in her throat, damn Alliance. “It is so tall that it touches the clouds, and there is nothing around this statue, this colossus. Nothing left. It is their calling card.”  
They escorted the Holy Man to his door and then Heath carried on as though he had not done anything out of the ordinary. Rehtaeh hit him softly in the ribs. “Leave it, Heath. Imam and I have nothing more to say to each other. I warned him as a matter of respect and nothing more.”  
“You should try forgiveness, Rehtaeh,” Heath told her softly. “It would ease your spirit.”  
“I have forgiven him, Heath,” Rehtaeh told him softly. She really had. “We talked it out when I came back from Quintessa. We just have nothing in common and prefer to keep a friendly distance.”  
These words surprised Heath, he was not aware that she tried to talk to Imam, that they disagreed on what to do about Jack and Suleiman. All of them made mistakes when it came to Jack but ultimately Rehtaeh believed that Jack made her own choices, she created her bed, therefore she could lie in it. Suleiman as well, he was an adult when he made the choice to join the military. Contrary to Imam’s beliefs she hadn’t tried to influence the young man in any way. He just chose that path on his own.  
She leapt off the bike then and into the shadows. She appeared across the street and up a level in the shadows of a balcony, she waved at Heath to show him where she went. Then she jumped back down to the street level where she could mix with the crowd. As the people of New Mecca saw her walking among them, she was bombarded with questions. As a well-respected member of society her opinion was always sought. As people asked her about the threat she told them again and again. “The threat is real, danger is coming. Gather your families, and make your way to a shelter.”  
Heath rode on his hover bike behind her as she made her way through the crowd. They passed out the information, and gave directions and locations for the different shelters close by. She kept herself busy and tried to center herself for the battle that was coming toward them. A few more hours and they would arrive, and the world would end for many of the faces that surrounded her. They worked tirelessly for hours until after the sun set, The threat was obvious, the ‘comet’ was so close that the people were beginning to see that it wasn’t just one massive structure, it was many, and they were beginning to break apart to surround the planet. Finally, they began to move, gather their families and run towards shelter. Rehtaeh knew that for most of them, they would not make it.  
They went to gather with the rest of the troops, the hovercraft was fully loaded with ammunitions and the guns were primed. Rehtaeh added two more fully loaded saddles to the bike. Luckily this particular model was engineered to take the extra weight, otherwise, it would never even lift off the ground. They moved into position on one of the base platforms that rose out of the ground near the outskirts of the city. She was near her neighbourhood, from where they sat she could see through the darkness right to her house and the Merc-ship beacon that was flashing brightly as it sent its signal into deep space.  
There was a hum through the troops as they watched the massive ships descend to the surface of their planet. The smell of fear filled the air around her, sparking the animal within her. The beast inside was ready for the hunt. Her adrenaline started pumping through her as she readied herself for battle and braced herself for the impact.  
They all saw the massive ships, impossibly huge, dropping like daggers into the earth, embedding themselves into the sand as they landed, towering over the city. With massive explosions they slammed into the planet, the earth beneath their feet began to shudder. The impact created the effect of a bomb, obliterating everything in their paths. Buildings exploded as though they were made of nothing more than dust, debris flew up and out destroying the landscape that surrounded it. People were killed and the smell of blood filled the air. She looked up in horror at the colossal structures, remembering what the man from the street had said. They were momentous structures, with three heads at the top, looking out over the land. She looked up through her now clear glasses at the massive ships and watched with rising rage as hundreds of thousands of smaller warships spilled off of it and took flight from their docks on the sides of the mother ship.   
There were three types of ships coming breaking away from the larger structures. There was one that looked like Egyptian sarcophagi from earth which held people inside it. It looked like some form of transport ship. These ships moved immediately towards the ground, dropping troops into the street through some sort of odd blue force field. Never before had Rehtaeh seen this type of technology. The next ship was slightly smaller, but it was a fighter ship, with heavy artillery. This is what Heath would be going after. These and the third type, smaller two person battle crafts, made for tight spaces and intricate manoeuvring.   
Heath revved the bike and they took off into the air. She held on tight as the big machine jerked forward at immense speed. The best part about being a Shadow Mage, her motion sickness was gone. Ever since Riddick first taught her to pilot the nausea had ebbed away, but being able to control her body to such a degree made it disappear altogether. Heath could do whatever manoeuvre he wanted and as long as she held on she could go without feeling the slightest hint of sickness.  
The battle began. It was horrifying as Rehtaeh knew it would be, and the New Mecca and Alliance armies were completely unprepared for the massive threat coming for them. She prayed that Suleiman would be okay with his unit of ground troops. Heath had trained him so she knew that the young man knew his stuff, but the Necromonger’s numbers swelled well above their own. This was a planet of peaceful people, no one ever thought here was a possibility of war. The overwhelming firepower that they were up against was much greater than that of the Alliance, and their forces were being swiftly driven back.   
Fearlessly Heath and Rehtaeh flew up unto the sky. Heath using the massive guns anchored on the bike to take out the larger Necromonger fighter pilots. Rehtaeh stayed with him, jumping from shadow to shadow slitting throats, shooting out engines, creating mayhem wherever she could. Night time was her favorite. Everything was in shadow, giving her free reign over the enemy. Her body would shatter apart into trillions of atoms and she would join with the darkness. She was not material enough to be killed in the shadows, and she felt more alive when she was in that realm. It was like a speeding rush, she just had to look at where she wanted to go and would be there. She dropped hundreds of men without even being seen. Heath took out just as many with his fierce manoeuvring and exemplary aim. He was never one to waste ammunition, if he was going to take a shot, he was damn sure it was going to hit.   
She stayed close to him, jumping onto the back of the bike to check in and to reassure him that she was okay. The last thing either of them needed was to be worried about each other. “How’s your ammo Heath?”  
“Running low, we need to head back for more.” Heath called back to her.   
“Let’s make it quick. We are going up against a rising tide. They need us out here and not lying low.” She told him, she stood on the back of the bike for the duration of the descent to the army depot, keeping the enemy off their backs. When someone came too close she would jump and take out their engines. If she could get off a clean shot with either bow or gun she would take it.   
They reached the depot and changed out all the clips and loaded up some spares into the empty saddlebags. Their turnaround was less than ten minutes, but by the time they made it back to the front, New Mecca was fallen. That didn’t stop them though, they were both soldiers, they would fight until the bitter end. They continued to take out the Necromonger fleet, but as there were fewer and fewer Alliance fighters they came upon heavier and heavier firepower. She was jumping from one enemy to the next, she would surprise the first one and be seen by three or four more engaging in hand to hand combat with them until they all fell, before jumping shadows back onto the back of Heath’s bike. They went up to engage in battle with the fighter pilots, but the odds were easily ten on one.   
Heath was leaning heavily on his guns and Rehtaeh was taking shots from the back end with her handguns, when one of the Necromonger pilots got aggressive and came at them. She threw a hand bomb at the visor and waited for it to blow. Then she jumped onto the top of the ship and destroyed the remainder of the hatch pulling out the pilot. She shot him and his gunner. When she turned to go back, Heath was headed to the ground. A group of Necromonger soldiers were going after a group of citizens as they raced for shelter. Heath launched himself off the bike and grabbed his handguns going head to head with the Necro soldiers. Rehtaeh jumped to his back, covering his position with her own hand guns. Once he had taken care of the enemy on his side he turned to help her out, she felt him move to her side and the gun fight started anew.   
She took out four when she smelled his blood and she knew she had to get him to safety. Her guns were out of ammo and she didn’t have time to reload. Instead she pulled her bow from her shoulder and a pair of arrows. With one shot she took out the last two soldiers in front of her before turning to cover him. He had his back to her now, looking at the incoming threat, there was a knife hanging out of his back. Fourth lumbar down, left of the spine, if she pulled the knife Heath would be dead within seconds. She looked over her nephew’s shoulder at the group of five Necromongers coming towards them, a strange creature with a blue mask over his face, a man who was staring intently at the creature’s back and four others. One of them was huge carrying two massive axes. These men were new, they were not part of the initial fight. Rehtaeh figured they must have just arrived. She looked down at the knife that was embedded in Heath’s back and back at the enemy. She stepped around Heath, covering him. She felt him fall, he was down but still alive, she had to get him out of there. She saw the big one leer at her as he stepped forward. He was the one who threw his knife at Heath, he would pay.  
“You coward!” She yelled at him in rage. The others hung back. They were all staring at her as though she was the monster, she pulled her bow taut and released it at the massive giant of a man, but he pulled away at just the last second as the sharp bladed flight nicked his face leaving a large gash just under his right eye, slicing into the metal of the helmet. Metal flights, her design, made to inflict injury even in a swiping pass. The man ran for her and she grabbed Heath and pulled him into the shadows with her. She pulled him for as long as she could before she found a corner that seemed secluded enough. She stepped out of the shadow and used the last of her energy to gently lay him on the ground. She had moved him with her to safety for just a second and it exhausted her, she collapsed beside him rubbing hard on his chest. “Heath!”  
He opened his eyes and looked up at her with a small knowing smile. “This is my end Aunt. I am glad I was able to spend it fighting alongside you. Tell her and the kids that I love them.”  
“No Heath, you cannot go. I promised Carolyn. You cannot die.” She cried, her tears spilled from her eyes and gathered along the rims of her glasses.   
“It is my time, Rehtaeh. It has been an honor to know you. Your brothers were so proud of you. They cherished you. You were their heart. The Heart of Seven.” His voice was getting weaker and weaker. All she could do was hold on to him and cry.   
“The honor has been mine, Heath. My brothers were good men, and Jacob, to have raised such a strong and noble son. He would have been very proud of you. I know that I am.” She whispered to him, a sob escaped as she held him against her.   
“The Elementals are wrong, Rehtaeh, you are Furyan. You are Furyan through and through. I’m sorry this is going to hurt.” His arm was around her as he pulled her into a hug his hand rested between her shoulder blades, she felt a powerful force slam into her, the pain was unimaginable and she saw the horrible images from her nightmares again. When the pain subsided, he was gone, dead. She held him for a long moment, crying into his shoulder. The Necromongers began to surround her, she could feel them as they gathered, watching her mourn. She grew impossibly enraged, she pulled her knives from her waist and hit the shadows, she jumped erratically, from one to the next, the only thing that alerted them to her presence before they died was her battle cry.   
“You may have taken him, but you will never have me!” She yelled at the last one as his body fell to the ground. She was going to find Heath’s killer, she was going to find him and destroy him! Staying in the confines of the shadows she went back to the street where Heath was hit and started following the scent. She found some of her own men and joined in their battle against a platoon of Necromongers. Knives in hand she helped them attack the Necromonger forces that dropped from the low flying ship. They took out every man from the platoon but one of their enemies planted a massive staff into the ground and engaged the weapon before he died. From it a small ball of light rose into the air hovering just above the staff.   
“Get back!” She yelled, following her gut instinct Rehtaeh jumped into the shadows above her and up into the night. When it exploded out she felt the impact of the light as it rippled against her darkness. She watched as the entire platoon of Alliance soldiers fell to the ground around the horrible staff, and beyond them she could see the platoons of the enemy surrounding the fallen Alliance Troops.   
She waited in the shadows until the Necromonger troops went through the intersection before she dropped back down to the ground and rematerialized beside the staff. It was radiating a cold that was so immense and terrible, she reached out and touched it. The power in it crackled under her hand, but it did not hurt her or suppress her in anyway. It was just a benign cold. She could feel Riddick close by, Riddick and three others. Imam and his family? She would bet her life on it.  
Riddick moved out of his hiding space with Imam and she looked up at him, her eyes were wide. He was safe. It was all she needed to know for now. She felt Lajjun and Ziza to her left and went to get them and bring them out to Riddick and Imam. Imam was startled to see her. She just nodded her acknowledgment and said, “Imam.”  
“Have you seen Suleiman? Do you know if he lives?” Imam asked her desperately.  
“No, Imam, I don’t know. I have not seen him.” Rehtaeh shook her head, she had to go. She had to find Heath’s killer.  
Riddick looked at her, taking in her face. “Heath?”  
“Gone. A knife in the back.” She shook her head, shaking off the pain that threatened to tear her to pieces. Once the family was back together they looked for a direction to go. Rehtaeh’s house and the ships. It was their best option. Rehtaeh heard the troops approaching, before they were even close. “Go, take them, I will catch up with you later. I have something to take care of.”  
He grabbed her hand before she could touch the shadow above her. “Don’t sacrifice yourself for them.”  
“This vendetta is for Heath. The only other person I would sacrifice myself for, is you.” She said as she shot a hostile glare at him, when would he get it? She would give up everything for him. She shook her head, shaking off the thought as she jumped into the air reaching for a dark shadow and dissipated into obscurity. As her hand disconnected from his she felt a sudden electrical shock. Like a static shock, but much sharper. She yelped as she entered the darkness.  
She moved away further down the street closer to the oncoming platoon so she could create a distraction for their escape. She pulled herself out of a doorway near the Troops. One man, a commander shot one of the Alliance guards and was getting ready to shoot another man when they spotted her in the doorway. She recognized the young Alliance soldier immediately. Suleiman. She stepped forward and walked brazenly into the road then stopped right in front of the boy blocking the shot. She stood dead center of the street as they approached her. There was a team of two. One was a blue masked creature like the one that accompanied Heath’s murderer. It wore a strange helmet over his head, and behind its mask the face was more skull and bone than it was flesh and man. The being looked at her for a long time, seeming to be in a complete state of confusion, the man behind him holding a screen looked up at her.  
“What are you?” he asked her. She ignored him; she wanted to see what this army would try to do to her. She was surrounded by hundreds of men all of them holding weapons on her. She could smell Heath’s killer, he was close. She reached into the shadows, searching for him, what she found she did not like. The monster was after Riddick and the others. She had to get to them. She had to get Suleiman out of here. He was weak and needed a place to rest. A safe place.  
The Commander strode to the front, taking the scanner from the other man. “What’s the problem? Just kill the breeder.”   
“It’s white, not red. She is not showing up like the others, there is blood flow, she is a breeder, but she- she is gone.” They looked up at her position in the center of the dead men. She was indeed gone. Suleiman’s now unconscious body in her arms as she jumped from alcove to alcove. She joined the shadows and started killing as many as she could, pulling Suleiman with her trying to make her way closer to Riddick. She hoped she was strong enough.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42  
Riddick  
He made his way up onto the rooftops, looking up at the sky, watching the ships coming in. This was bad, he had to find Rehtaeh, get back to his ship and figure out a way to get Jack out of Crematoria. He ran, jumping from roof top to roof top as he went to cover more ground, he had nearly made it back to the hover bike when the massive ships landed. There were dozens of them most of them were tall, taller than the buildings of New Mecca, they landed in a large ‘u’ shape near the dome-like town hall. Deeper in the city a massive skyscraper of a ship embedded itself into the ground. Its landing caused a massive explosion of dirt and air. The fall out ripped through buildings and the city streets. He made his way through the throng of terrified people and past a little, girl sitting, crying in the rubble, confused and scared.   
He looked up at the massive skyscraper and took off his goggles. There were hundreds of small fighter pods detaching from the sides and deploying into the air. Larger fighter ships were taking out all of the main military compounds, and then there were the odd casket ships that were dropping thousands upon thousands of soldiers into the city streets. At one glance of the incoming enemy, Riddick could tell that Helion Prime was doomed to fall. The Alliance army was going to be outnumbered.   
He saw the Alliance ships head up to meet their enemy, taking out the smaller crafts and engaging in battle with the larger battleships. Then he saw them. Their hover bike, guns blazing, hitting every target it aimed at, dropping the fighter pods as they approached. On the back of the bike was a form, a woman’s form, she had her bow in hand and was taking shot after shot, there must have been explosives in the tips of those arrows because everywhere her arrow landed there was a massive explosion, and the enemy would drop. To save New Mecca, they would need clones of that pair. Several dozen and maybe they would have had a chance. He watched them for a moment until it looked as though Rehtaeh was flickering in and out of existence. Riddick brushed it off as distance and the fallout around him. At least he knew they were alive for the moment.   
He made his way through the buildings just trying to stay out of the firefight. It was slow going, there were battles everywhere, and he was forced to backtrack several times. He would never make it to Rehtaeh. He turned direction, instead trying to make his way back to Rehtaeh’s and the waiting ships when he heard Imam and his wife. They were a short distance behind him. Imam separated for a moment from his family to see if it was clear for them to continue. He had made it across the street and was about to call for them, when suddenly from behind him a platoon of the enemy started dropping from a ship as it passed low overhead. At the other end of the street, a platoon of Alliance Soldiers turned the corner heading straight for the holy man.   
He pulled Imam back away from the fighting, and asked him, “Are you following me?”  
Imam didn’t have time to answer. The fighting in the street was quick and intense, he watched for a break in the fighting, and he saw Rehtaeh fighting alongside the Alliance, she was using her knives swirling and dancing through the resistant Necromongers. He was amazed by her if anything she was even more wild and feral than she was before. She was a heathen, revelling in the fight. They took out the entire platoon, but what should have been a successful battle for the Alliance turned into one of complete annihilation for the Necromongers. One of the men planted and triggered some sort of staff in the ground. Rehtaeh was standing right beside it, she looked up at the ball of light rising from it, and she yelled a warning and jumped into the air disintegrating right before his eyes. She had disappeared into thin air. What the hell?  
“Lajjun and Ziza!” Imam cried out as he saw the white light and tried to make a move for his family, and Riddick had to hold him back. There was no point in going out there until the Necromongers weapon went off. It was safer here in the alcove.  
“When it’s over,” Riddick told him. He knew how the man felt; Rehtaeh was standing out there just moments before and suddenly disappeared. He wanted to know where she went as much as Imam wanted his family, but he knew something bigger was coming, they would have to wait. There were more Necromongers hiding in the shadows just beyond the hypnotizing light.  
“Let me go. I must get to my family.” Imam protested hotly, struggling against him. There was a massive blast, it radiated out a cold energy and a massive blue light lit up the road. Debris flew in every direction from the intensity of the attack, and yet from his vantage point the blast did not affect a single Necromonger soldier, even though they were standing in close proximity. He heard the Alliance soldiers drop to the ground dead and he waited for the enemy troops to move through the road. He could hear them marching away deeper and deeper into the city.   
“I borrowed a ship. You can ride along if you don’t mind riding with a convict.” He looked out into the street watching as Rehtaeh re-materialized beside the staff. He watched as she reached out and touched it, and the resulting shiver that encompassed her body. She was alive. She still moved predatorily and yet it reminded him of the way the elemental woman he met earlier in the evening moved. Yet she seemed to be cloaked in darkness instead of air or light. Where did Rehtaeh learn a trick like that?  
“Thank you, but I must get my family across the river. God willing I can get them to a shelter across the river.” Imam told him. The man was frantic and worried about the safety of his family.   
“I am sure that God has his tricks, but getting out of places no one else can, that’s one of mine. Let’s get your family.” He moved past Imam to do just that, Rehtaeh joined him leading Lajjun and Ziza. Her face was streaked with soot and dust and the ash from the battle around her, but the most noticeable streaks were the ones caused by the tears she recently cried. He knew immediately that Heath was gone. She looked at him and then at Imam.   
“Imam.” She said in acknowledgement of the man, nodding towards him. She was polite, but not overly friendly.   
“Have you seen Suleiman? Do you know if he lives?” Imam asked her desperately.  
“No, Imam, I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.” Rehtaeh shook her head, she looked distracted and was listening for the soldiers around her.   
“Heath?” He asked and watched the pained expression cross her face. He remembered seeing the same one when Mac had died, and he watched as she pushed it out of the way. She would not freeze.   
“Gone. Dirty blow. A knife in the back.” He voice sounded husky and choked, yet there was steel in that voice, and he was certain that it would mean trouble. They were headed towards her place and their ships, towards safety. They were on their way when she stopped and turned back looking into the darkness. There was a group of Necros coming their way, she heard them too., She looked up at him, a sad, determined smile on her face. “Go, take them, I will catch up with you later. I have something to take care of.”   
She was reaching for something above her when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back “Don’t sacrifice yourself for them.”  
“This vendetta is for Heath. The only other person I would sacrifice myself for is you.” She glared at him her face was one of hurt and anger; his words obviously pissed her off. What the hell did he miss this time? Before he could say anything else, she jumped up reaching her hand into the air and turned into smoke in his hands. Interesting.   
“Let’s move.” He told Imam, and they ran down the streets, cutting through buildings, courtyards and alleyways. They ran for quite a ways before Riddick heard some more Necromonger soldiers coming their way. He held up his hand and Indicated for Imam and his family to hide. They ducked into a doorway, trying to stay out of sight. He ducked into the doorway across from them. He could hear something coming, it was breathing heavy as though through a heavy tube or mask and it was approaching slowly.   
A group of them came in, lead by a man with a mask, which peered through the shadows at a soldier slumped in the corner outside the door. Another man was looking at a screen which was attached to the masked being. The masked thing started screeching at the man in the corner, the soldier was injured, there was no way that he could be a threat, but once it was confirmed that he was alive according to the screen, they shot the man in the corner, a scream crying out into the night. He watched as a large man, who seemed to be the leader of the group passed him by. He pulled off his goggles so he could get a better look. There was a knife embedded in his back and yet he was still walking, and moving, as though it was nothing. He could smell blood on him, coming from the wound on his face, just below the right eye. What the hell were these Necromongers?  
The group continued to check the doorways, making their way around to Imam’s. Riddick could smell their fear, he could hear their erratic breath and the whimpers coming from them. The moments stretched long and torturously slow as the Necros did their search. Imam was either very brave or very stupid. He moved his family deeper into the space behind them, telling them not to follow him. Then he stood in the doorway so the masked creature would see him, swirling his cloak he yelled out and ran. Right into Rehtaeh as she stepped around the corner carrying an unconscious young man, the scent was familiar and yet changed. Suleiman. He could smell fresh blood on her, and he growled low in his chest. She stumbled under the impact before she pushed the body into Imam’s hands and shoved them both back into the alcove.   
Then she spun and faced the masked man her twin blades in hand, she slashed out, and the creature’s head fell to the ground with a heavy ‘thunk’ as it landed and rolled away. “You want to kill someone you dirty bastards? Try me.”  
He didn’t see her face hidden as it was behind her cloak, but he did see the flash of her silver eyes in the darkness. She swept away and took off running. The big man went after her, the troops followed in his wake, all of them except for the reader of the masked thing. The Necromonger pulled his weapons moving toward Imam and his family who were cowering in the corner, he was going to go in for the kill. As the Necro moved closer and closer to Imam, and his family Riddick followed. Silently he stepped behind the Necromonger, it was quick silent and easy, the sweet spot. He made sure Imam and his family was safe and then went in search of the Rehtaeh.   
He was on the second level running through the corridors when he heard her scream. When he got there the massive Necromonger with the knife in his back was turning away from a darkened doorway, frustration and anger written on his face. He left with his remaining comrade through a passage on the far side of the hall. He looked around for Rehtaeh, but she was nowhere to be found. He did find a pool of blood but no body, until he looked over the balcony, down at the bodies of two of the Necro Soldiers. Both of them looked as though they were hacked up by a large knife or sword.   
“Son of a bitch!” Rehtaeh growled as she stumbled out of the shadows below him. She was breathing hard as she leaned back against the wall, holding her mother’s katana in her left hand. A single look at her told him that she was exhausted, weak and injured. Her right arm hung at an odd angle, from where he stood he could see it was dislocated, but she made no move to pop it back. He felt a sudden protective urge surge through him, he growled low, trying to push it away. She didn’t turn to look at him, but he knew that her words were for him. Her voice sounded full and wet and tearful, “Heath was a good man. He deserved a warriors death, not that.”   
He vaulted over the small wall to the ground beside her, he braced her and pulled her arm out and reset it so it would pop back into place. Her only reaction was a choked mewling noise as she tried not to cry out. He could still smell blood on her, it was her own blood. Reaching up he pushed the large hood off of her head and tilted her face to his. Her glasses were clear; he could see her beautiful violet eyes through the glass, the silver pupils flashing in the darkness. She was bleeding from the nose, blood was coming from her ears as well, but he saw no damage from a hit or blow. He used the edge of his cloak and wiped away her blood.   
“Where did you learn the disappearing act?” He asked softly. There was so much he didn’t know about her anymore, she changed more than he could have imagined. He remembered how much fun he had getting to know her the first time. He would have more fun with her, getting to know her all over again.  
“Quintessa, the Elemental planet,” Rehtaeh whispered. So she was some sort of creature like Aereon, it would explain how the old woman knew her. She was choking back her tears, but they were falling from her eyes welling up around the rims of her glasses and streaking her face. She met his eyes, her voice was an angry growl, filled with regret. “I want him dead, Riddick. I tried to take him on, I failed. I failed Heath.”   
She reached up and used her sleeve to wipe the tears away, smearing them across her pale skin, mixing it with the ash, dirt, sweat and blood that already coated her flesh. She lost Heath, the last of her family to a knife in the back, by a coward who wouldn’t face him head on. Rehtaeh was right he deserved better. He didn’t say anything to her, yet she seemed to understand what he meant to do because as he turned away, heading after the Necro soldiers, she just followed him silently.   
The sun was rising over the horizon as they made their way into the city to the city hall where they were gathering the citizens of New Mecca for conversion. He pulled his cloak over his head, and she did the same staying right by his side as they entered with other members of the community. They all stood under the steady gaze of the Necromonger guards as an entourage of the Necromonger leaders walked in. A man with a helmet with many faces strode in first, escorted by a compliment of guards, alone he climbed the staircase to the center of the hall, the dais where the city councilmen usually addressed the masses. Riddick just wanted one man, the one who killed Heath.   
A man with a strange helmet made to look like a gilded rack of bones spoke to the crowd, “In this ‘verse, life is antagonistic to the natural state. Here humans in all their various races; are a spontaneous outbreak, an unguided mistake. Our purpose is to correct that mistake, because there is another ‘verse. A ‘verse where life is welcome, cherished, a ravishing ever new place called Underverse. But the road to that ‘verse, crosses over the threshold.”  
The Necromonger soldiers all took up the same chant in unison their voices echoing through the hall, “Threshold, take us through the threshold!”  
The many faced helmet man looked at the people of New Mecca and smiled. “What you call Death.”  
The doors on the far side of the pavilion opened and the man that killed Heath stepped through, Rehtaeh growled low in her throat. He watched as she physically shook herself, and took a deep breath a calming breath. He could smell her rage. The skeletal helmet man continued to speak. “So it is this ‘verse that must be cleansed of life, so that Underverse can populate and prosper.”  
The leader, the many-faced, spoke again. “Look around you, every Necromonger in this hall, every one of the legion vast that just swept aside your defenses in one night was once like you. Fought as feebly as you.”   
Rehtaeh took another breath beside him, her hands had clenched tight in anger, and he heard and smelled the drop of blood that fell from the small cuts she was causing in her own palms. He could feel the growl building within her. He had seen Heath and Rehtaeh during the fighting, and there had been nothing feeble about either of them.   
The many faced man continued, “Every Necromonger that lives today is a convert.”  
The crowd murmured, and the voices swelled until one woman spoke out. “There will be no conversions!”  
“We all began as something else,” Skeleton man said as he indicated the army behind him. “It was hard for me to accept too when I heard these words, but I changed. I let them take away my pain.”  
“You betrayed your faith!” another citizen, a man, called out.  
“Just as you will change when you realize that the threshold to the Underverse will be crossed only by those who embrace the Necromonger faith. For those of you who will right now drop to your knees and ask to be purified.  
“We will not renounce our Faiths!” the male citizen cried out again.   
“No one here will do what you ask! It is unthinkable! This is a world of many peoples, many religions.” Called another man standing beside the first, he walked out of the crowd toward the dais. He was much braver than any of the others and stepped forward to address the Necromonger threat. Riddick watched the two Necromonger speakers exchange a glance as the man spoke, they were waiting for someone to do this. They were waiting to showcase their power, to show dominance to a weaker species. “And we simply cannot and will not be converted.”   
The Necromonger leader approached the citizen, reaching out to him, his hand blurred, as though his soul was a separate entity from his own. “Then I’ll take your soul.”   
He reached into the man and pulled a shadow copy out. Rehtaeh moved to go to the man’s aid, and Riddick reached for her, but she stilled on her own and stayed where she was. He didn’t even touch her as her eyes went wide as she watched what came next. She was holding her breath as she watched in horror as the soul reached for the body and the body for the soul. When the Necromonger leader dropped the soul to the ground, the man died, before their eyes. A small whimper left her throat, and he was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to pull her against him, to comfort her. He shook it off. He forced himself not to give in to that need. If he did, it would give away their position.  
“You can join him, or you can join me.” At the display, everyone started to bow down, until he and Rehtaeh were the only people in the room not on their knees. He pulled off his hood and looked around. Rehtaeh kept her hood on and just seemed to look straight ahead at the leader of the Necromongers. She unclenched her fists allowing more blood to drop on the floor and reached both hands inside of her long jacket and took a half a step forward. She still had her weapons and was readying herself for a fight.  
One of the commanding officers strode towards them, he took one look at Rehtaeh and his eyes narrowed “You.”  
“That’s right.” She replied darkly, her hands slid out slowly the silver hilts glittering brightly in the room. The man stepped right up to her and looked down; her hood tilted a small fraction as she looked up at him, dark eyes meeting darkened glasses. He was threatening her, Riddick reached out and pulled her away as the man reached out to push back her hood. She gasped softly, as the man’s hand touched her brow, she swayed forward just a hair breadth, anyone else would not have noticed, but Riddick did. So did the Commander. Compatibility? He didn’t smell arousal from her, but he growled audibly at the thought and pulled her to his side, he did not share.   
The man looked at him then and told them, “This is your one chance. Take the Lord Marshal’s offer and bow.”  
Rehtaeh stood beside him, breathing heavily. She shook off whatever she was feeling, and he watched as her shoulders raised, and if possible she made herself taller, her blades slid out a little more, she was obviously not going to do as asked. Riddick looked down at her before he looked back at the commander, “I bow to No Man.”  
The commander pulled off his helmet and looked at them, “He’s not a man, He’s a Holy half dead who’s seen the Underverse.”  
“Look I’m not with everyone here, but I will take a piece of him,” Riddick said pointing out past the commander indicating the man with the knife embedded in his back, holding the heavy double bladed battle axes. He released his hold on Rehtaeh’s jacket and pushed her gently back. The man looked at Rehtaeh and recognized her. He gave her a leering once-over, then he looked at Riddick, he swung towards him as though to accept the challenge.  
The commander looked back at Riddick and conveyed, “A piece you will have.” Then he returned to his spot by the columns to watch, and also to watch Rehtaeh, who was still standing her ground. She only stepped away far enough so that Riddick could take on the Necromonger murderer.  
The large Necromonger circled around Riddick, approaching slowly, he took a slice at him with his first axe, and Riddick arched back in defense, throwing off his cloak. The crowd gasped as the Necro followed through with his second, spinning at him. As the big Necromonger took another swing with his heavy axe Riddick dodged and as the Necro spun back Riddick pulled out the knife from his back. Then he went on the attack. He slammed the hilt of the knife into his belly, winding the larger man, then he hit him again with the hilt, breaking the plate of armor and with his third hit Riddick embedded the blade into the Necromongers heart, killing him, killing the cowardly beast that murdered the warrior Heath. Riddick pushed him backwards down the stairs, his lifeless body rolling through the still bowing but shocked crowd.   
Rehtaeh reached his side within seconds, and they both made to leave when the Lord Marshall called out, “Stop them.” The guards in front of the doors held fast, not letting them past. He heard the movement of the Lord Marshall as he made his way across the hall towards them, Riddick stopped and turned towards the sound. Rehtaeh did the same beside him, her hands still on her blades. The Lord Marshall slowed by the fallen soldier’s body only long enough to pull out the dagger before continuing on towards him.   
“Irgun, one of my best.” The Lord Marshall said as he approached him.   
“If you say so,” Riddick replied, the man had not been a serious challenge. Rehtaeh chuckled softly, beside him. Her face still hidden behind her hood.   
“What do you think of this blade?” asked the Lord Marshall as he handed him the knife.   
Riddick grabbed the knife from his hand. He flipped it over his palm one way and then flipped it in the other, and finally spun it on the palm of his hand, checking weight and balance. He used the knife on Irgun, so he knew the blade was decent, but something had felt off about it at the time. He handed it back to the Lord Marshal and said, “I think it’s a half gram heavy on the back end.”  
Rehtaeh muttered under her breath, “Show off.”  
The Lord Marshall turned to her, “Remove your hood, breeder.”  
“I think, No. No, thank you.” Rehtaeh told him, staying still and somehow she was completely relaxed, Riddick could detect no fear within her. If there was compatibility and attraction to the commander, there was the opposite towards the Lord Marshall, he completely repelled her. The Leader raised his hand and made to grab for her and Rehtaeh stepped back, her gilt knives pulled out even further. Her feet not making a single sound on the stone floor. “Do not touch.”  
Angry the Necromonger made a quicker than lighting strike against the girl. She dissipated into the shadows that fell onto the floor behind them and reappeared on the far side of Riddick. There was a gasp among Necromongers and civilians alike. “I said don’t touch.”  
“Show off,” Riddick growled quietly. He heard her laugh softly; it was very breathy, faint. Damn, he loved that sound.  
“I should take your soul,” the Lord Marshall threatened her.  
“You could try, but you cannot take that which does not reside within my body,” Rehtaeh told him, her response was cryptic. Mysterious, interesting. Every time he thought he was getting to know her, she threw a new surprise out for him to think over.   
“What sort of Elemental are you?” The Lord Marshall looked down at her; her face and form still hidden underneath the hooded long jacket, his face had become quite cold. “I have never seen one such as you.”  
“Honey, I’m the Mother of all Elementals,” Rehtaeh told him cryptically with a breathy laugh. Rehtaeh confirmed his thoughts. She was like Aereon. Was she purposely goading the man? According to the man’s glare, she was indeed getting under his skin.  
He turned back to Riddick who was still holding the blade out to him. “In our faith, you keep what you kill.” He pressed the knife back into Riddick’s hand, trying to get him to take the unwanted blade. He, of course, resisted, pushing it back towards the Necromonger leader. It was a battle of wills. There seemed to be a realization on the man’s face, regarding what, Riddick didn’t know, but the man asked him, “Are you familiar to me? Have we met, on some distant field?”  
Riddick pulled his hand and the knife away from the Necro leader and said, “You’d think I’d remember.”  
“You’d think I would too,” The Lord Marshal headed towards the door, “Take him before the quasi-dead’s.”  
“What of her?” The commander asked him.  
“She will follow.” The Lord Marshall told him, and then looked back towards him and Rehtaeh. “She seems to belong to him.”  
“I belong to No Man,” Rehtaeh growled at the Lord Marshall, her tone was defiant and angry.  
“You belong to me.” Riddick growled at her low enough that she was the only one who could hear him, he felt her stiffen in surprise beside him, and then she growled in defiance. He did not share.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43  
Rehtaeh  
He was completely out of line! First, he shows up out of the blue, leaving a stolen ship on her property for the Mercs to find then he starts electrocuting her with his touch, and on top of it he was acting like a territorial jerk! The guards surrounded them drawing their weapons, and Riddick looked ready for a fight. She shook off her thoughts and bristled as the guards closed in. She looked around her, standing back to back with Riddick, completely defensible.   
“Perhaps the Breeders would do it,” A woman called out, looking at the commander that spoke to them earlier, granting Riddick the opportunity to kill Heath’s murderer. She pushed the man’s gun out of the way, “If someone just asked them.”  
She walked around Riddick, stopping momentarily in front of Rehtaeh looking closely at as she pushed Rehtaeh’s hood off of her head, revealing her identity. The Citizens of New Mecca gasped in surprise as one of their prominent citizens was revealed and being taken by the Lord Marshall. Riddick growled as her appearance piqued the interest of the Lord Marshall as well as the commander. Rehtaeh rolled her eyes; she didn’t care about the men at the moment, it was the woman who intrigued her. Strange, her touch was warm, but it felt tainted somehow, wrong. The woman was beautiful with a cinnamon complexion and dark brown hair woven intricately into a high bun. She was wearing a skin tight dress that looked like some sort of reptile skin, in a soft tan or beige shade. The woman continued on towards Riddick and said, “It’s a rare offer, a visit, inside necropolis.”  
She was about to tell the woman where to go and how, to get there, but Riddick’s next actions stopped her in her tracks. He took a deep sniff of her, gaining her scent. Rehtaeh kicked him with her heel. She was aroused, this woman. Even Rehtaeh could smell it on her. It made Rehtaeh want to punch her lights out, warmth or no warmth. She shook it off, never before had she felt territorial, this jealousy was new to her. She knew he was playing with her and Carolyn back on Hades, Carolyn had acted more jealous than she did, so why the hell was she reacting like this now? She loved him and trusted him so, why was she feeling so possessive all of a sudden? His next words made her growl audibly. “It’s been a long time since I smelled beautiful.”  
“Let me show you the way.” She whispered huskily to him and took his hand, leading him out into the bright New Meccan morning. Rehtaeh saw the look on the commander’s face, and she knew that his must have mirrored her own. He was not a happy man. Rehtaeh followed them, silently. Keeping pace with them easily, as they made their way to the massive mother ship, she walked beside the commander. She watched him closely trying to figure out what had happened in the town hall when he first approached them.   
She was ready for battle, ready to take a swipe at him when he reached for her hood. He was just cold in her presence, even colder than most people. Much like Junner in fact. Then Riddick grabbed the back of her coat, and the electrical current that hit her was unlike anything she had ever known! The pain was unreal! She was not expecting it at all. She nearly passed out from the jolt. He only touched her jacket! It was almost like some part of her fused with him on a molecular basis. He growled at her when it happened, and now he was acting like a territorial prick, did he think she felt a connection to the commander? Had Riddick not felt it at all? What the hell was going on? And what was with the heavy flirting with the Necromonger woman? Was he purposely trying to piss her off? If he was, it was working. Hell, it was making her downright livid.  
The Man with the skeletal helmet caught up with them, and she felt a familial compatibility with him. This was becoming stranger and stranger by the minute. She needed to think. She stepped just behind Riddick, into his shadow, and let herself dissipate.   
“Where do you think you’re going?” Riddick asked her, his voice was almost cold, alerted, commanding and so very alpha. Oh, so he did notice that she was still there. He seemed so involved with the Necro woman, that Rehtaeh wondered if he even realized she followed him. She rematerialized just enough to answer him.  
“Where I belong, apparently, into your shadow.” She told him snidely as she literally did as she said she would. He growled, low and angry. She waved at him mockingly from his long shadow on the ground, and a few people tried to sidestep her, and she laughed before dissipating from their view. She was a part of every shadow, every piece of darkness that surrounded a person. They could not hurt her here. It might be colder in the shadows, but it was easier to think, easier to see.   
She moved to the ‘Dame’ took in her scent from right up close. She was connected to the commander. His wife. His scent was all over her. An odd pairing, who would be the dominant one? Her warmth indicated a familial relation of some sort, a close one, like Heath, and she wondered what planet she originated from. Not Quintessa, and not Furya, so it had to be one of the others. It seemed odd that someone who felt so cold to Rehtaeh would be paired with someone so warm. Still, she felt tainted like there was something wrong with her fundamentally. She was a calculating person, seemed to be very ambitious, and sought out those in positions of power. Rehtaeh took in the way she walked beside Riddick, how close she was, her reactions to him. Yes, she seemed aroused in the town hall, but it had dissipated since. Sure she was still interested, but it seemed to be in Riddick’s presence or just the power that he seemed to represent. Not necessarily sexual arousal, but still a physical response. Rehtaeh wondered if the woman was a user, someone who stepped on others to advance herself. She did seem the type.   
She moved on to the Skull man, who everyone was calling the ‘Purifier’. He had very light blonde hair, and light colored eyes, she wondered if that was natural, or if the Necromonger conversion did something to their eyes. He was taller than her, about the same as Riddick, but his frame was much slighter than Riddick or even Heath, but he seemed familiar. There was a familial compatibility with him so she concluded that must be from one of the realms that she had helped, she hovered around him for a moment, taking in his scent, his spirit, his entity. He was like Heath, not quite like Riddick. She would bet he was Furyan, yet he too had a taint to his essence. She sensed something in him, he was curious about Riddick and her, the way he watched them was studious. Regardless of what he was spouting back in the town hall, this man didn’t seem quite so in line with his convictions. Very interesting.  
She moved back to the Commander and took him in, almost expecting an electrical jolt from Riddick. There was none, and she was relieved, she didn’t want to feel that pain again. His presence was so similar to Junner she wondered if perhaps they were related. He was very handsome. Tall, easily the same size as Riddick, with very pale skin, not quite as pale as Rehtaeh herself. He had dark brown eyes and long dark hair. It was shaved on the sides giving him a wide faux-hawk, the long ends were plaited into dozens of tiny braids that fell down his back. He was a handsome man, but he seemed stiff and like his presence, his face was cold. Like the other two she sensed a wrongness to him, something was just not right with these people in general. His name was Vaako, and the woman his wife. Vaako was as ambitious as his wife, but he was something else too, cautious, loyal, a zealot? She just wasn’t sure.   
It explained why he was so pissed, he was jealous. His ‘Dame’ was not acting like any type of submissive, she was very much her own person, and it seemed that this was bothering Vaako. Women seemed to belong to men in this strange religious sect. Disobedience would not be looked at kindly. The woman was hovering around Riddick almost wantonly, as though she thought to devour him. It was definitely not acceptable behavior for a wife in the Necromonger faith. That explained why they thought she ‘belonged’ to Riddick. She growled again at that thought. What nonsense. Until he marked her as his own, she belonged to him as much as she belonged to the universe. She could not see Riddick asking for a blood bond anytime soon.   
Trying to investigate the reason for the strangeness of these people she jumped from shadow to shadow, person to person, as she tried to gauge what was wrong with them. She looked deeper into their shadows, but it was murky. The things she could see in the shadows were not always clear due to the fact that she could only use the fringe. Moving back to the commander, she brushed against him, close enough to observe but far enough away in case Riddick decided to zap her again.   
She looked towards the Lord Marshall who was walking farther ahead. There was no way she was even going to approach him. He bothered her. His abilities with soul manipulation and his command over the shadows were eerie. There was no way that she would allow that cretin to ever touch her. There was something terribly wrong with his shadow, and she could feel it from a distance. His taint was worse than the others. It must have to do with this Holy Half-Dead business that Vaako was talking about. When he pulled out the Mayor’s soul, she was going to stop it. She stopped dead in her tracks when a tall male Shadow Kin appeared beside them and waved her back, shaking his head. He silently, invisibly collected the man’s soul and stepped back into the shadows. He was a Reaper. A guide for the souls of the dead to follow into the Shadow Lands. Other than Zephora, she had never seen another Shadow Kin, it was odd to be able to watch a Reaper come and collect a soul for the Shadow Realm.  
She materialized just behind Vaako, emerging from his shadow. He actually noticed her presence and turned to look at her, “Will you walk with me?”  
She moved two feet to his left, and stated warily, “As long as you do not try to touch me, I will walk with you.”  
“You are an elemental, and yet you do not have a soul, are you a dark magic user?” Vaako looked at her from the corner of his eye. She must look a mess, covered in grime from the battle, her clothes and skin felt as though they were coated in oil and dirt. Her silver-blonde hair would be grayed with the dust from the explosions. Not to mention that under her jacket she was wearing the flak jacket, and a multitude of weaponry.   
“Oh, I most definitely have a soul. It just does not reside within me.” She told him, smiling softly to herself. “Think of me more as the element that lives within all of us, that element that is half Life, and half Death.”  
“Then you are much like a Necromonger, we go beyond the threshold of death to become something more.” The Purifier told her over his shoulder, as though he was trying to convince her to convert. Maybe to convince himself that he had made the right choice?  
“Except for the part where I was born a freak and you want to try to become something otherworldly,” She replied softly, they were coming to the massive doors of the towering ship. They were swept open and they entered into the massive cavern-like interior of the Necropolis. Riddick stopped before them and was looking up and around, taking off his goggles for a better look. It was cool within the darkness, and Rehtaeh pushed her glasses up into her hair; even though they adjusted of their own accord so that she could see in the darkness, sometimes it was better to be without them.   
She looked up at everything around her. There was so much to take in. Columns and statues, it was all dark and gothic in an odd modern sort of way. Instead of gargoyles, the beasts were men, who were purposely mutilating and harming themselves. All of them were screaming in some sort of agony. There were transport ships high above moving people from floor to floor, like a massive ferry inside an even bigger ship. They entered directly into the throne room. The doors slammed shut, and Riddick looked back towards them, she met his eyes. Some indefinable expression crossed his face, if she didn’t know better, he was glaring at her and then at Vaako. A challenge? Dame Vaako pulled his face towards hers and looked at his moonlight like eyes. She looked up at Vaako to register his reaction to his wife’s actions. Instead, Vaako stared back at her for a long moment. It unnerved her, and she looked away.  
“Beautiful eyes.” His Dame said to Riddick. It startled both herself and Vaako, and they looked at each other, her potent jealously was reflected on his face. He noticed her reaction, and he smiled, figuring out a weakness within her. Damn Riddick! Rehtaeh blushed pulling her glasses back down over her eyes and turned away from them, sliding closer to the shadows. Dame Vaako took Riddick’s hand and pulled him forward, “Come. The last six Lord Marshalls have called this home. Magnificent isn’t it?”  
“I might have gone a different way,” Riddick replied. She agreed wholeheartedly but said nothing, the place was dark and black and gray, but it was not in her tastes. There was nowhere near enough red. No life, no passion. She loved dark colors because they offset the light. She could do without the whole gore and torture theme.   
“True of us all.” The Purifier said. They passed a column that revealed rows upon rows of humans hanging up by massive manacles with two spear points digging into each side of their necks. She could only imagine the pain they would feel hanging there suspended by their arms, those pins digging into their flesh. No there was no way that she would ever consider converting. It wasn’t the pain that bothered her, though she could see their pain, and she could smell it on them. It was the darkness that entered their souls something seemed out of place, disconnected, she just couldn’t quite place it. All she knew, the taint began here, during conversion. “Converts, receiving the mark of the Necromonger, they learn how one pain can lessen another.”  
“This is wrong, they are tarnished,” Rehtaeh growled lowly, she looked the Purifier in the eye as she sidled past him. He flinched inwardly she could see it in his eyes. She turned away following Vaako towards a set of stairs off to the right of the throne. She looked at Dame Vaako as she led Riddick behind the throne to a massive set of glass doors. He didn’t look back, but she knew he heard her when she whispered, “Tainted.”  
Dame Vaako led Riddick into a large room, while Vaako escorted Rehtaeh up a flight of stairs to where she could see down into a large pit. The Purifier followed and stood beside some sort of trigger. The Lord Marshall stood across from her, on the same level, watching Riddick enter into the pit below. Rehtaeh moved closer to the railing so she could see what happened to Riddick, so she could help if something happened.   
“There now that is just perfect,” The Dame led him onto a small platform, almost flower-like, with a purple light shining up from the petals. Rehtaeh noticed that the woman didn’t step on the small dais; in fact, she seemed to want to avoid it altogether. She walked back to the doors, Rehtaeh could no longer see the woman, but she heard the warning she gave to Riddick. Dame Vaako’s voice nearly sang the taunt to him, “The more you resist them, the greater the damage will be.”  
The Necromonger woman walked out of the room and the doors locked behind her. Riddick was enclosed in there; he looked up at the Lord Marshall, standing between two attendants. Then he looked up at her, meeting her eyes, there was something some noise happening around him, and it had him on edge. Rehtaeh’s heart skipped several beats, her anxiety spiked and she made ready to fight. So far, these Necro’s had not searched her for weapons, they had no idea that she was carrying an arsenal under her jacket. Her handguns might no longer have any ammunition, but she was far from being weaponless. She didn’t want them to know, not yet, so she tried to calm her agitation. The Purifier turned something on, some sort of electromagnet. It pulled the knife from his hand and somehow forced him to one knee, his hands on the floor. Rehtaeh remembered that at least one of the cuffs was hiding blades in them, her skinner was in his left cuff, and it was holding him down.   
She heard Dame Vaako as she approached, trying to be silent, but Rehtaeh could hear her and feel her as she joined her husband, standing just a few feet behind her, “Interesting Breeder.”  
She felt Dame Vaako move closer to her, quiet as a cat as though trying to sneak up on her, Rehtaeh turned to meet her. The look on the Dame’s face told her that she had expected Rehtaeh to be surprised by her approach. Rehtaeh bristled in readiness, primed for an attack. Dame Vaako was taller than she was by several inches one of her hands was raised as though she was going to try to touch her hair or shoulder. Rehtaeh met her eyes and raised an eyebrow in question, silently asking if she really wanted to start a fight. Dame Vaako lowered her hand and returned to her husband’s side. Vaako looked from his wife to her, meeting her eyes, lust flared in them as he met her gaze. He turned back to his wife, his voice was husky, eliciting a purr from his wife, “Yes, very interesting pair.”  
Unnerved by what she saw in the commanders eyes Rehtaeh waited for a moment before turning back to watch Riddick. Five large teardrop shaped pods rolled down from the walls and moved to circle him. There were people within them covered by a dark draping of gauze, and on either side of their faces, there were two large cups of liquid. The glass cups were suspended in ornate holders that swivelled with the motion of the pod. Not a single drop of liquid was spilled as the pods moved into place. Through the water-like substance, Rehtaeh heard them speak. “Making Entry. This won’t take long. Entering his neocortex, ah, the Riddick.”  
“Regress,” the Lord Marshall ordered. She raised her eyes and watched him for a moment, he met her gaze and narrowed his eyes. He was trying to figure her out, and he expected to get answers from Riddick. It was a good thing that she hadn’t told Riddick anything about her last five years. She changed a lot, and this Lord Marshall did not need to know any of it. It was going to be bad enough for Riddick as it was, during their time together, he had not once brought up his past. It seemed to her that it was a hard life he lived, and she respected his need for privacy. She was sure that if they were reading his mind, there was a lot of stuff that even he didn’t want to remember. Her hands moved to the railing as she turned her attention back to Riddick and watched. Mentally sending him her strength.   
Riddick jerked in pain, and Rehtaeh flinched wanting to go to him. She gripped the railing in front of her so that she wouldn’t draw unwanted attention to herself, watching intently. “Scanning fresh memories. Thoughts of someone called Jack.” Riddick fought against the memories in his mind. He didn’t know much about Jack, what could he reveal? He knew everything about her, though, everything about her former life. “Rehtaeh, strong, warrior, His.” He was really struggling against the pull of these Quasi-dead’s she knew that he was resisting, trying not to let them know anything about her. She didn’t care if he told them all of her secrets, as long as it stopped his pain. It took everything in her not to go to him, but with the amount of weaponry she was carrying under her jacket, she would be flat on the floor in seconds. “Now we find thoughts of an elemental, Furyans.”   
This must have spooked the Lord Marshall, he made a quick movement drawing her gaze away from Riddick. He looked angrily at her and then back at Riddick before he walked away from his post. He seemed greatly agitated and fired questions at these Quasi-deads. “Where does he come from? Who are his people? These are the things I need to know.”  
“We find Energy.” The voices said in their slow whispered unison, “We find Furyan Energy, He’s Furyan. Furyan! Furyan survivor. Kill the Furyan, Kill the Furyan.”  
They seemed to find issue with the Furyan race. What would they do if he revealed her name? Her family name? There was agony written on his face, and it pulled her heart apart to watch him suffer like he was. She couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her throat as she watched. Riddick seemed to be remembering something, something dark about his past. Then he looked up from his forced bow. He looked up at her and met her eyes, he was fighting their pull. She prepared for battle, knowing that the moment he was free to stand they would be making their move. The voices started chanting again and again, “Kill the Riddick,” the glass goblets breaking all around him, shattering glass and liquid in every direction.  
“Kill the Riddick, take the girl.” the Lord Marshal ordered. Several men jumped onto the railings around the pit, Vaako and the Dame both reached out for her but Rehtaeh was too quick for either of them. She spun into the shadows and appeared in front of one of a Necro soldier, her knife in hand. She took his head, and his body dropped into the pit below, his armor being sucked to the magnetic floor. The Purifier disengaged the electromagnet device and Riddick along with it. She jumped into another shadow and reappeared in Riddick’s. Instantly warmer and comforted to be by his side, she stood ready to fight.   
She felt someone coming at them, and she spun to face him and kicked up, her toe rose to meet the underside of his chin, she triggered the knife in the toe of her boot and embedded it into his neck. The man fell to the ground with a gurgling scream. The pods started rolling back. One of the men jumped down from the upper level, and Riddick grabbed his knife from the ground and gutted him, then used the man’s firearm on another guard. She didn’t have time to help; he shot two more men from the back of a pod and started riding the thing backwards into the wall. Men were closing in on her. Vaako was coming straight at them. Riddick took another shot, but the large man rolled away, and the blast hit the man behind him.   
“Rehtaeh.” He growled at her. She jumped through the shadows into the darkness beside him. There was a passage behind the pods, circling the pit to the main hall, which branched off into dozens of smaller passages. They ran, through the halls, out of an unguarded passage and into the streets.  
Once back in the night air they wove their way through alleyways and streets in the direction of her house. There were Necromongers following them, and it wouldn’t be long before the Lord Marshall sent out an entire platoon. Riddick was running fast, not waiting for her in any way, which was fine with her. She kept up with him easily, jumping into a shadow upon occasion to take out a pursuing Necromonger soldier, before jumping back to his side. As if on cue one of the weird sarcophagus transport ships carrying a platoon came after them. He growled again but quietly this time, “Whatever comes next, you are to stay by my side and you play along. Do you understand?”  
“Whatever you say, Riddick.” She rolled her eyes at him. She was not interested in his bullshit, she was in survival mode. She would do what she needed to survive, if it fell in with his plans great if not, Oh well.   
“I mean it Rehtaeh, play along.” Riddick growled at her.   
“Fine, I’ll play, but I am not going to play nice.” She said defiantly as she slipped into the shadows. Aa large cannon started shooting at the Necro ship. There were five Mercs, four men and a woman. One she recognized. Toombs. She growled inwardly upon seeing him. She remembered busting his nose after she returned from Aguerra for holding Imam at gunpoint. There was no way she was going to allow them to get the information out of Imam. Then he tried to use her to get to Riddick, and she had to bust his ass again. Of all the Mercs in the universe why did it have to be Toombs?


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44  
Rehtaeh  
When the ship crashed the first time just behind Riddick, she almost came out of shadow to grab him, but it flipped rising back into the air and landing further down the road. A few Necro’s managed to make it out of the crash and were on their way towards them, Rehtaeh jumped out of Riddick’s shadow and pulled her bow out of her jacket and started firing arrows at them. Satisfied as each arrow hit its mark she turned back to Riddick, to see him standing there in silence as the dust settled as though he was waiting. Waiting for Mercs? She jumped to each of the Necro’s and gathered her arrows, no need for waste. Then she jumped back into Riddick’s shadow. What the hell did he have planned now? She stood right beside him, exactly in his shadow, in case she needed to jump.  
“Let me guess, five-man crew this time,” Riddick said, not turning around. She looked up to see Toombs pulling off his hood.   
“Couple of things you could have done better, first trash the locator beacon inside my ship, the one you jacked?” Toombs growled at him with a grin, he thought he was one-upping Riddick? Yeah, that was pretty funny. “Second, and this is really the more important part, dust my dick when you get the chance. Any questions?”   
“Yeah,” Riddick said, as he turned and held out his hands. Confirming what Rehtaeh was thinking, he absolutely had something planned. Her stomach turned, this was not good. Her and Mercs? She did not have a good history with them. “What took you so long?”  
“So what’s with you and that Furya bitch? Second time I have tracked your ass back to her place.” Toombs asked indicating to the female Merc to cuff him. The dark haired girl sauntered towards them.  
“I’m right here Toombs, you don’t have to be so bitchy.” Rehtaeh stepped out of Riddick’s shadow. Toombs and the woman stopped in their tracks, she almost laughed at the stunned looks on their faces. “I think I straightened your nose last time I hit you, I can take care of that if you like.”  
Toombs indicated to two of his lackeys to disarm her, she was ready to fight them off when Riddick growled at her, and she remembered his order to play along. On a whim she hid her bow and the pack of arrows in the shadows, there was no way she would trust these idiots with her most prized weapon. She could feel them still, just within reach and it gave her an idea for later. She thought about her wrist computer and bit her lip, her instincts screamed for her to hide it and fast, so she unbuckled it and dropped it into the shadow by her feet. She pulled it beside the bow and the satchel of arrows before she grit her teeth and prepared herself for the touch of strangers. The big ox of a man immediately started to feel her up as he moved to pull her weapons off of her body. “Boss, she is loaded down, we should cuff her first and do this at the ship.”  
Toombs looked at her with a scowl on his face. He knew better than to let her make a grab for a weapon. He didn’t know about her new abilities. However, their last encounter happened long before she went to Quintessa “Just do it, but keep her under gun point, the bitch is lethal.”  
“He’s just pissy ‘cause I didn’t play nice the last time we met.” Rehtaeh winked at the curly haired Merc.   
“Sure it has nothing to do with the five hundred plus Mercs you and your bodyguard killed,” Toombs growled at her angrily.  
“Wouldn’t have had to kill the fuckers if you stopped sending them after me,” Rehtaeh argued hotly. Riddick growled again, and she shot him a glare. “Why do you think I had a bodyguard, you idiot Merc?”  
The Ox snapped manacles around her wrists, as he leered at her and the female Merc did the same with Riddick. She looked all cocky and stuff, Rehtaeh laughed, it was so cute. Trying to play all grown up and shit. “Come on, Big Boy.”  
Riddick didn’t say a word, and Rehtaeh growled low enough for him alone to hear, “I am not happy about this Riddick, what the hell are you up to?”   
“Why do you hate her so much Toombs?” Riddick asked suddenly, he swung his gaze between Toombs and Rehtaeh, something dark was shadowing his face. Once again she cursed his covered eyes, “Is she too much woman for you to handle?”  
“I ain’t got no problem handling my women. Ain’t that right Eve?” Toombs scowled at Riddick angrily, at least it shut up the conversation. Eve gave the Merc a nasty glare, no love between the two of them either. “I have a problem with Merc killing women with a penchant for torture.”  
“Remner’s death was an execution. You’ve seen the video. Don’t those names mean anything to you? Cause they sure mean a lot to me and their families.” They escorted them to their little ship, the one that Riddick arrived in, which was still sitting on the riverbanks on her property. Rehtaeh growled in rage as they blatantly walked across her property as though they owned the place. Toombs kicked over a couple of sand sculptures that Carolyn’s boys made for her. She jerked against the Ox, ready to go after the lead Merc. “Really Toombs? Do we have to go over the definition of no trespassing again?”   
“You should take that out on your guest; he parked my ship on your property.” Toombs reminded her, jerking his thumb at Riddick. She glared at both of them, she was not happy with this, especially when the Ox decided that was the perfect moment to grab her ass. She was about to wail on him when Riddick’s growl stopped her short. Instead, she slammed her heel into the man’s instep. He jerked away in pain, yanking on her arm at the same time.  
“Hands off the goods, you stupid ox, or when I get the chance I will take your head off.” She growled at the big beefy Merc as he made to try it again. “Riddick is already on the shit list Toombs, get this heavy handed pervert off me and I’ll take yours off of it.”  
“What’s with the heavy artillery, Furya?” Toombs asked her as he motioned for the beefy Merc to lay off.   
“We’re at war with Necromongers and you wonder why I carry weapons, Toombs? Have you lost your fucking mind?” The Ox left her alone until they all got on to the ship.  
It was a tight squeeze for them all that was for sure, she ended up being the unlucky one. Eve strapped Riddick into the prisoner transport cryo seat at the back of the ship. The Asian Merc took the pilot seat, Eve stayed beside him acting as co-pilot. Toombs sat back and watched as the dark curly haired Merc kept Rehtaeh under gunpoint so the Beefy blonde could disarm her.  
The Ox damn near rejoiced in his chance to disarm her. He had her remove the long jacket, but it was empty nothing hidden in it. Still, it was dropped unceremoniously into the lock box. They were all shocked at the heavy flack-jacket that she was wearing and the sheer number of knives and ammunition and hand bombs that she was carrying strapped to it. There were nearly a dozen fresh clips for her handguns. She regretted not reloading her weapons when she had the chance. In her rage at Heath’s death, all logic went out the window. She removed it and then her gun belt with her two blasters and the two knives, and the scabbard for her mother’s katana. It was all thrown into the lock box with her long coat.   
The ox had her turn around and indicated to grab the bars above Riddick’s seat facing towards him; she was short, so it was a stretch for her. Her arms above her head and her legs spread wide; the Ox was gleeful as he stepped up to do a pat down. She looked at Riddick and set her mouth in a grim line, she concentrated on his heartbeat in order to keep her temper, which was running short.  
The curly haired man had her at gun point, right at her temple, making sure that she couldn’t get away from them. Without the jacket and the flack-jacket, she seemed that much smaller, and apparently that much less intimidating. Little did they know, she was lethal without her weapons, and without their weight, she was that much faster. She was looking at Riddick, concentrating on his heartbeat when the pat down began, the Ox starting at her shoulders he worked his way down, finding particular glee in rubbing his dirty paws over her breasts, she slammed her foot into his shin for that one. Riddick smirked as she told the Merc. “Your days are numbered, ass jacket.”  
“Hey Mac, I always wondered, are they real?” Toombs asked, the big blonde Merc. Rehtaeh scowled at Riddick, this was his fault, the pain and nausea built in her stomach with every touch. Even her training in the shadows didn’t prepare her for this insulting treatment. Other than a small tightening around his mouth, Riddick didn’t react at all, which only enraged her more.  
“Yeah boss, they’re real alright, worth the pain.” The blonde leered at her as he continued his search. He found another knife holstered at the small of her back, one strapped to each thigh, he, of course, squeezed her ass and rubbed his hands over her most intimate parts as he ran his hands over her legs. Riddick’s growl of protest joined hers as the Merc rubbed himself against her ass. She wasn’t sure if he was pissed that the Merc was touching her, or if he was telling her not to take action. He found her boot knives, but not the ones hidden in the toe of her boots, or the one she had hidden in her braid. When they figured they were done, she was manacled to the cross bar above her to her left, Riddick’s right, and left to hang there beside him. She was still pissed off at Riddick, so she was avoiding contact with him. The ox kept leering at her, enjoying the way her jersey t-shirt hugged her curves. The way she was stretched out had her shirt pulling up, revealing her muscular abs. “You have a death wish dick head.”  
She watched them as they closed the lock box with her belongings, as soon as the shadow from the lid settled across her weapons and jacket she pulled everything into the shadows, leaving the box empty. She could feel her things in the shadows around her, she gathered it all together with her bow and arrows, it was a new trick and she wondered how long she would be able to keep them there.   
They were up beyond the atmosphere in no time. Rejoicing about smash ‘n’ grabs and quick getaways, until a trace was put on them, then they were scrambling to come up with a plan to drop the trace. They ended up dropping one of the boosters in order to drop the BTU’s, making the crappy little ship even crappier. Once they were out of immediate threat, everyone settled down. The Mercs each took their seat and strapped in, other than Toombs, who was leaning against the back of the pilot seat looking back at Riddick and Rehtaeh. His eyes wandered up and down Rehtaeh’s muscular frame. Once he got his eyeful, he started talking to Riddick. The entire conversation was like a tennis match, it was as though they were purposely baiting each other. “So where do we drop your Merc killing asses? Who’s gonna pay the most for you now, Butcher Bay?”  
“Butcher Bay, fifteen minutes on the dog run, protein waffles ain’t bad,” Riddick told the Merc, his voice was almost jovial as he said it. There was a warning in there that told her that the option shouldn’t even be a consideration. Rehtaeh bit her tongue to keep from laughing, she was still mad at him. What a smart ass.  
“How ‘bout Arcelona? Nice little double max for ya?” The Merc asked next, as though he was raising the stakes considerably. The other Mercs were watching wide-eyed, this was the legendary Riddick, and Toombs was baiting the man. It really seemed to her like the two were dancing, it was funny to watch.   
“They keep a cell open for me, just in case I drop in,” Riddick informed him nonchalantly. She rolled her eyes and stood on her toes trying to relieve the tension in her shoulders. She could see so many nice little shadows that she could slip into, the temptation was huge. Riddick must have seen it on her face because he scowled up at her briefly. She just glared back.  
“You know what’s the problem with these joints nowadays? Health clubs for waffle eating pussies. Maybe we should think about upping our game here a little bit, think about someplace truly diabolical.” Toombs returned, he already had a place in mind. Rehtaeh tried to think about what she knew about the slams in the system, but she only knew of one. ‘Crematoria,’ She thought, ‘it was the only place close enough.’ They were going to get Jack. Imam must have told him where to find her. Heath shared all of the information he gathered with Imam when Rehtaeh didn’t seem to want to do anything about it.  
“What the hell is he thinking now?” Eve asked, she seemed a bit perturbed. This whole exchange had the crew on edge. Her own tension grew as she thought about seeing Jack again. She didn’t care that the girl went by a different name, until she proved her worth, Rehtaeh wasn’t interested in wasting her time. All of this just for Jack? Fuck. They would need an escape plan, and she needed insurance in case something went wrong. No fucking way was she going to spend the rest of her life in a slam. Good thing she hid her computer.  
“He’s thinking a Triple Max Prison, a no daylight slam. Only three of them left in this system, two of them outta range for a shitty little under cutter like this one with no legs, leaving just one. Crematoria. That is what you had in mind. Right, Toombs?” Riddick told them, he was playing the Mercs at the same time as telling her his plan. Sure enough, they were gonna go get Jack. Even though she had already figured it out, her gut clenched in pain and anxiety as she thought about their last meeting. The girl hated her, and she gave the kid every reason to hate her even more, some of the words she said were unforgivable. On the other hand, Jack did try to kill her, twice, which was as bad if not worse.  
“Jack. Well shit, this is gonna be a kick ass reunion party, I wish I had lost the invite.” She groaned quietly in dismay, no one but Riddick had heard her. He looked up at her with something akin to surprise. She could see the questions brewing there.  
“Hey, how does he know where we’re going, and we don’t?” The curly haired Merc asked from his cryo seat.   
“Dope it out,” Toombs ordered.  
“I hate this run,” the Asian Merc said as he turned back to the navigation system to enter the coordinates as he kissed some talisman he was wearing. Protection for a safe run? They would need it. Rehtaeh went over the flight plan a hundred times whenever she got a sentimental itch to go after the girl. Having never been to an actual slam before she knew that they needed Riddick to get Jack back out. Her experience with the penal system was entirely different, as was Heath’s. Heath only asked Rehtaeh once where Riddick was, and she told him straight out that there was no way she was telling anyone where he was hiding out. Not even for Jack.  
“Just do it!” Toombs growled at the others. They all seemed a bit shifty, especially after Riddick’s teasing about the prison selection.  
“I don’t know about this new crew of yours. They seem a bit skittish, probably shouldn’t tell them what happened to the last crew.” Riddick teased, goading them all the more. That piqued her curiosity, what happened to the last crew? If she wasn’t so mad at him, she would ask.   
It must have pissed Toombs off a bit because he came to the back of the ship and started blowing smoke in Riddick’s face. “You know you’re supposed to be some slick shit killer, now look at you, all back of the bus and shit.”  
“Blow your smoke elsewhere, asshole,” Rehtaeh growled as his smoke curled around her. “How the fuck are you gonna explain me?”  
“Don’t you worry about that sweetheart we made up a file, just for you, under a different name.” He sneered at her, “Bet you can’t guess what it is.”  
“Considering you have zero imagination, my bet is you married me off to Riddick.” Rehtaeh glared at him, the slightly stunned drop in his face told her she was right. Riddick scowled at her, and she glared back at him. She didn’t belong to him. She didn’t belong to anyone. His bloody lie was the cause of an ever growing body count of Mercs, and she didn’t need the bullshit anymore.  
“You two do seem to be awfully cozy, perhaps if you don’t want to be paired with him, you should try spreading your legs for someone else.” He got right in her face, cozying right up to her. She pulled away from him and bashed her head forward, breaking his nose for the third time. He punched her in the gut for it. Her feet came up in pain, and she tried to curl away from him.   
“And you wonder why you can’t get a woman.” She growled at the Merc. He looked like he was going to come back at her, and she didn’t back down, she was waiting for him to hit her.   
He seemed to think better of it and stepped back. “No worries sister, I have enough evidence to put you away for the rest of your pitiful life.”  
“Really, Toombs? And what evidence is that?” Rehtaeh taunted him, drawing him out. There was only evidence on two things, Remner and the Mercs. Neither of which she could be charged for.   
“You guys remember Dr. Remner? He used to put out the sweetest commissions. This is the bitch that killed him. That video I showed you? That was her.” Toombs looked at her with an evil grin while the other Mercs looked at her in horror.   
“Remner was a sick psychopathic serial killer. The Alliance wanted punishment and execution. The victims’ families wanted their pound of flesh. Skinning him alive was the perfect solution. He deserved every cut, every slice, every fillet, and every strip. One for every girl he tortured and killed.” Rehtaeh snarled back at Toombs, for some reason this sick Merc always seemed to forget that Remner was a monster. “The only retribution I got from it was his release.”  
“Wait,” Toombs said looking at her his eyes narrowing as he tried to recall the video. “He wasn’t released.”  
“Sure he was. I let him out of the ship he was on.” Rehtaeh grinned, her inner wild side was getting excited as it remembered. The blood lust started to rise, and she forced it back down, “He had an unfortunate accident with the airlock is all. You would think, as a scientist, he would remember the effects of a vacuum environment.”  
“You wrapped him in plastic,” Toombs reminded her.   
Riddick was silent. He said absolutely nothing during their exchange. She wondered briefly what he thought of her moment of depravity. She shrugged and gave Toombs a bored look, “He was bleeding out. I was just helping him contain himself.”  
“You’re a sick Bitch!” Toombs sneered at her, walking towards her, each step was a threat. She heard Riddick growl and she shot him a look, he was watching Toombs intently.   
“He deserved it.” Rehtaeh grinned gleefully, she met the eyes of every horrified Merc on board. “I take it you plan on using Riddick as a distraction to keep them from processing my DNA. Don’t want the Alliance to revoke that slick level two clearance card you got in your pocket. You’re just bait anyways, disposable.”  
“How do you know-,” Toombs started, with a growl. He was a foot in front of her. Everything about him said that he would hit her to shut her up. Just a little push was all he needed.  
“Level 9 Clearance. Should’a checked my identification. The Alliance gave you clearance hoping I would take you out so they could send me to prison. I got your number, Merc, you are nothing but bait.” Rehtaeh giggled gleefully, her animal side was toying with him, growing more and more excited as the fear level of the Mercs spiked.   
“Shut it, you Merc killing Bitch!” Toombs growled as he backhanded her. Pain radiated out from her cheek and her head snapped sideways, she slumped, as though she was knocked out and waited. The big Merc settled into his cryo seat for the duration, and she waited, watching with her hands in the shadows as they all drifted into a deep cryogenic state. Once they were asleep Rehtaeh reached out towards a shadow and faded into it, leaving her manacles dangling uselessly on the post. She stretched into the shadows, felt for her weapons and feeling them there and intact she relaxed. She curled into the shadow around Riddick. It was warm in his shadow, comforting, as though his was the only shadow where she truly belonged. She reminded herself that she was angry at him and she pulled away.   
“Get your ass back out here, Rehtaeh,” Riddick ordered her. She waited for a long moment, wanting desperately to ignore him, but she was feeling pulled out of the shadows against her will. Damn it! What the hell was happening to her? And what was with him? He had been acting strangely ever since the town hall meeting. “Now, Rehtaeh.”  
She swirled around him and appeared right in front of him. She pulled her long jacket out of the shadows and over her shoulders. Her eyebrow quirked up and she glared at him. “Can you please tell me why ‘Playing Along’ is so fucking important? Can you tell me why the fuck I am suddenly allowing myself to be mauled by beef brain? Is it just to go get Jack?”  
“If you’re going to get cozy, I would prefer you do it where I can see you.” He said darkly. He could feel her in his shadow? That was new, only Zephora was able to feel or hear her when she was in the shadows, and she was Shadow Kin. He completely ignored her questions, as though they didn’t matter at all. “Come closer.”  
It reminded her of the ship crash five years before. She remained where she was. She knew him better, knew his tricks. “So now you want me closer? What the hell, Riddick, could you be more bi-polar? And what the hell was with the damn electrical shock earlier?”  
“What electrical shock?” Riddick asked her, she couldn’t gauge his emotions, with his goggle-covered eyes, he was staying stoic. Was he serious? He hadn’t felt it at all?  
“In the pavilion, when you hauled me away from that commander!” She said exasperated, her voice was starting to rise and she forced herself to calm down. “It took everything I had to stay on my feet!”  
“I didn’t shock you. You were practically falling on Vaako.” Riddick growled at her, his voice was so dark it gave her chills.   
“Hell No! What I felt came from you, you stubborn-,” She growled angrily, hitting him with her open palm on his chest. Instantly, she was seized by an intense jolt of fire that made her tingle from head to toe, her eyes felt like they were going to explode, her back arched and she became seized. Paralyzed. Another arc of electricity hit her, this time harder and her consciousness was pulled out of her body.   
She was in her dreams, the ones with the graves. Her graves scattered before her for miles and miles. She almost expected the dark king to come for her and was surprised when a woman materialized out of the shadows. It was the same woman who came to her on Furya. She walked forward and reached for her, taking Rehtaeh’s hands in her own. “You have been chosen as Shadow Mage for a Furyan Warrior, your soul now resides in him. Your essence has been fused to his. You, Shadow Mage, are the Heart of Seven. The fate of our home and our people rests on you to take your warrior into the Shadow Realms of the Underverse. Your time will come to pledge yourself to him, when it does you will see beyond the darkness.” The woman released her hands and the world of Furya fell away, she returned to the ship.   
She took a breath and collapsed forward reaching for Riddick and held on for dear life as the energy left her body. She lifted her left hand to his face, but another spark shot through her and her hand landed on his chest just above the neckline of his shirt. She was hit with images, from her nightmares about the army and the war, and the babies being killed. She was about to pass out, yet it was like she was fused to him. It took all of her strength to not fall unconscious her head was on his chest, above his heart, so she did the only thing she could and focused on that. Only him, only his heartbeat. The steady beat, so loud in her mind, it drowned out everything else. She closed her eyes and stood there holding him as the energy waves passed out of her body. Once the pain receded, she felt the hot warmth of him rush into her. It felt like they were skin to skin, in a most intimate moment, in a moment of passion and lust, but this was so much more. “Uhn-.”  
“Rehtaeh?” He asked. His voice had an odd note to it, if she didn’t know better she would have guessed he was worried, but Riddick didn’t do worried. “Rehtaeh. Answer me!”  
“Why? Why Riddick?” She whimpered against his chest.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45  
Riddick  
“Rehtaeh. Answer me!” Riddick damn near yelled at her ignoring the Mercs around them. It was the same reaction that she’d had in the pavilion that morning, only this time a thousand times worse, she had seized up, he kept trying to call her name, but she was non-responsive until finally, she collapsed against him. She was holding onto him as tight as she could, and she was burning up he could feel the heat from her flesh through his shirt. Her heart was racing he could hear it drumming in her chest. Something was very wrong, and here he was shackled to a fucking ship where he could do nothing for her. What the hell was happening to her?  
“Why? Why Riddick?” Her voice was filled with pain, he was in agony hearing her defeated voice muffled against his chest. Finally, she raised her head, her face was still smudged from the Necromonger war, and her coat was covered in her nephew’s blood and that of the Necromongers she killed. There was sweat running down her face and in her hair. He could hear her heart racing in her chest, her scent was amplified, and in it he could smell her fear, her anxiety, and her pain. His senses were filled with her. Her eyes were solemn, and her voice was sluggish and slurred as she softly whispered, “I think. I think you just stole my soul.”  
“What?” Riddick asked, he was not following, she had told Vaako that her soul wasn’t in her body.  
“I am a Shadow Mage, my soul lives in the shadows, unconnected to me, so that I am harder to kill.” She whispered, gasping for air, still trying to calm her heart. “It was just fused to yours.”  
“Shadow Mage?” Riddick asked her. What the hell was a Shadow Mage, he thought she said she was an Elemental. “You said you were an elemental.”  
“No the Lord Marshall assumed I was an Elemental, I just happen to be the mother of their race. My ova went to Quintessa and my children were the first Elementals.” Rehtaeh breathed, she was finally starting to return to normal. So the ova that the Company Medical Research team harvested from her body created the Elemental race, which would indeed make her the mother of all elementals. He chuckled, she still couldn’t tell a damn lie, and was one hundred percent honest when she told that to the Lord Marshall. Her usual brand of humor; truth disguised in hostility. She shifted between his legs, rubbing more against him, he hardened at the intimate contact. She was completely unaware of what she was doing to him. He needed a minute alone with her unshackled. “I am a Shadow Mage, connected to the shadows I can move through them at will, all shadows connect to the essence of the soul, so technically I can travel between the living and the dead. When I get strong enough I will be able to take you with me.”  
“You can take me into the shadows?” Riddick asked her, surprised. He looked at the jacket that she pulled out of nowhere. “And apparently move things through the shadows. How much did you take out of the lock box?”  
“All of it.” Rehtaeh grinned at him, her eyes glinted with laughter. “I wasn’t sure I could pull them out of the box without touching them myself. It was worth the try. It took less effort than I thought. Taking a person is much harder. The longest distance I covered in practice was forty feet with a hundred kilos. It took forty-eight seconds. I moved Heath sixty feet in ten seconds, but I was using adrenaline.”  
“They will notice the jacket.” He told her, she certainly liked creating trouble. He noticed that she only complained about being mauled by the big blonde Merc. It took every bit of willpower not to bust the burly Ox up for touching her. She was his, he didn’t share, and now the Merc’s scent was all over her. It was pissing him off. She had every right to feel angry at him over that, she couldn’t stand even the lightest touch from someone incompatible, so an intimate touch like she endured must have been hell. He expected to pay for it later, but right now she was much too tired. Whatever just happened to her took all of her energy out of her, he watched her practically wobble as she tried to keep herself upright.  
“No they won’t ‘cause I plan to pull it back into the shadows before they wake up.” She levelled her gaze at him, “I played along, but I always play by my rules. You know this.”  
“Sounds like someone is getting up early, you should put the jacket away now,” Riddick told her, there was some gurgling coming from the Eve’s cryo chair, she would be awake soon.   
“Fuck, here we go again,” she said looking at the woman, she heard it too. She tried to melt back into the shadows, it was slow, but she managed to do it, then like she did before she pulled herself tight around him, in his shadow. “Hey, Riddick? Can you hear me in this form?”  
“Yeah, hear you, feel you and smell you, especially when you are close.” He said to her, it sounded like she was whispering in his ear. It was a welcoming distraction, her presence curled close to his body it was intimacy on a different level. She materialized from the shadows of the cuff, pouring herself out of them until she was solid muscle once again, the jacket was gone. Damn that woman had an amazing body. She went limp. Her breathing was even as though asleep and if he didn’t know better he would have thought for certain that she had in fact just passed out.  
Eve woke, she moved from her seat, and she moved toward him. She was all hot and bothered, so much so that he could smell it on her. Rehtaeh growled quietly beside him. Apparently, she could smell it too. He forced himself not to react to her possessiveness and pretended to be sleeping. The female Merc crept closer and closer, damn near climbing up on his lap as she tried to get close. She sniffed at him, taking in his scent. She was checking around for any witnesses and completely ignored the athletic frame of the beautiful busty blonde hanging from the manacles around her wrists. Rehtaeh moved silently from her spot pulled a blade out of the shadows, she looked as though she was in two pieces as her upper body rematerialized from the shadow on the roof behind the woman with a knife in her hand, she reached out and clipped a lock of hair from her short ponytail. The metal song from the blade alerted the woman to movement and blowing the woman’s hair into the air behind her Rehtaeh slipped back into her unconscious position as Toombs scratched himself in his sleep. The confused look on the woman’s face made it hard for him to keep a straight face. Damn Rehtaeh and her mischievous behavior.  
Eve turned back toward him, looked briefly at Rehtaeh and eased herself up; she waved her hand in front of his face, checking to see if he was awake. As her hands came up to his goggles, he closed his eyes. She lifted them up, and he waited just a moment before opening his eyes. She arched back in fear, and he gripped her leg between his, pinning her. “Do you know you grind your teeth at night? Sexy.”   
She jerked her leg out from between his and backed away in fear, finally looking at Rehtaeh as the Shadow Mage stood and looked up at her through her eyelashes, a threatening evil grin on her lips. Eve stumbled away, scrambling back into her seat, having rethought her attempted assault on Riddick. He waited for the woman to fall back asleep before he told Rehtaeh, “Come here Rehtaeh, I prefer to have you on my lap, even if it’s just to sleep.”  
“Really, Richard? You would let me sleep on top of you?” Rehtaeh said her voice sardonic. Stretching into a shadow she disappeared before his eyes, he felt her press into his shadow, she purred in appreciation as she pressed against him. She had a quirk to her lip when she appeared before him, she had pulled her jacket back on, and he watched as her lips curled into a feral smile. She took off her glasses and tucked them into one of her pockets and looked into his now visible eyes. She was standing sideways to him, between his legs, just like she had five years ago, and once again he pinned her so easily. Just like last time she landed on his lap, her hand on his chest. The heat grew in her eyes as her body reacted to him, she whispered softly, “What if I’m not tired?”  
“Sleep, Rehtaeh.” He told her. As much as he wanted her, he knew she was exhausted, he could tell. He wondered when she last slept, with all the events that happened on New Mecca, he knew she was awake for at least the past two days. She frowned up at him but didn’t argue. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her nose in his neck taking a deep breath. He welcomed the press of her body against his, she fit against him so perfectly, and he hummed in appreciation.  
She practically purred in response. “Hmm, you I have missed.”   
She curled against him, and relaxed, it was minutes before she fell asleep. He knew that she would wake within the next few hours to a nightmare, so she might as well get what sleep she could. As she slept, he breathed in her scent, the water of the pool still lingered, as well as her joining with him, mixed with the scents of battle and blood. He ignored the smell of the Merc. If the Dame had smelled beautiful, this woman was gorgeous. Her sweet and spicy scent did things to him, like nothing else could. It made him want to taste her again and again.   
He recalled his homecoming. There were times in his life that he was able to have a lover, but never had they been so happy to see him return. It was always with a wary look over his shoulder before they welcomed him into their beds again. Rehtaeh didn’t even consider the danger until after she jumped on him. She was sultry, sexy, all silvery light, like the moonlight and deadly warrior grace. He didn’t remember her being so hot; he remembered her muscular body, her bountiful curves, and her oval shaped face with the animalistic eyes like his. She was an innocent when he left her, in many ways she had still been a girl, still learning about herself. Perhaps it was the darkness she carried with her now, the wise hardened look that flickered in her eyes. Somehow while he was away she became a woman. His woman, her soul now bound to his own. She belonged to him. She could deny it and fight it all she wanted, but she was his. He just had to do something about that damn mark on her hand. The one that bound her to someone else.   
Hearing her breath steady in sleep, he allowed himself to sleep as well. They slept for several hours, until she woke with a hard gasp, her fingers digging into his back, pulling him back to awareness. He could taste the fear that ensnared her, fear, pain, and hurt. He could smell it and taste it. His instincts screamed at him to protect her, to keep her safe. She raised her head and looked up at him her eyes glassy and frantic. It was as he thought, another nightmare. He met her gaze and somehow within seconds of her seeing his eyes, she calmed, her heart beat returning to normal. Her fear disappeared, and she relaxed. She broke their gaze and got up, stretching her arms out and arching her back, he could hear the popping and cracking as her tired muscles stretched over her bones and joints. She heard the crew start to move and receded into shadows, and put herself back into her manacles, her jacket was gone, and her glasses back in place.  
She was standing just beside him, and she was still foggy from her short sleep, but she re-adjusted herself just enough to straddle his right leg. The ox was watching them after he got up and stretched out, his eyes were all over Rehtaeh, watching as she tried stretching out her sore muscles. Riddick growled audibly catching the Merc’s attention as he pulled himself up and pushed his goggles back down, purposely pushing himself against Rehtaeh’s bottom. She gasped in surprise as her body reacted to the intimate contact, and he could smell her arousal. ‘Just a few minutes alone with the woman,’ he thought as he dropped back into his seat. The large blonde Merc’s eyes widened as he watched Riddick visibly claim the Shadow Mage. Everyone strapped themselves in as they prepped for a rough landing. Rehtaeh braced her feet against the back of his foot and grabbed onto the cage above.   
“Destination Reached. Unlocking Manual controls,” The Com system told them.  
“Okay I make Seven Hundred Degrees on the day side, Three thirty below on the night side,” Eve informed them as she did a systems check.   
“Let’s not get caught in the sun.” The Asian Merc said as he worked the systems panel.  
“If I owned this place and Hell, I would rent this place out and live in hell,” Toombs said turning back to look at the others and Riddick. The Merc’s eyes lingered on Rehtaeh’s stretched form, and the soft material of her t-shirt as it clung intimately to her curves. Riddick smirked as Toombs noticed that she had her legs wrapped intimately around his right leg.   
“Angle of entry is good,” the Artificial Intelligence voice said over the com. “Plotted course good.” They were ready to make entry.   
“Hit it!” The female Merc yelled. The ship gained speed as it dropped; the G-force rocketed pressing everyone back into their seats. Rehtaeh grunted with exertion but held on as she was thrown back. Her thighs clamped tight around his, he could tell she was trying her damnedest not to put her weight on him. Every muscle in her body was straining with the effort. He growled low as he imagined her thighs wrapped around his waist and her body straining under him. ‘Fuck, I need to get her out of my system.’ He thought wildly, pushing his needs away.   
“Angle of entry not good,” The voice said over the com. Toombs and the Ox were goofing off with the pull of the G-force, Rehtaeh held steady until they finally eased up, and then they were hit with blinding light. Even with Rehtaeh partially in front of him, he was blinded with his goggles. She had turned her head to the left, in pain, even though her glasses had changed to a pitch black color. He wondered where she had gotten them, these self-adjusting sunglasses; they seemed to be fitted to her face.   
The pilot made the runway, but they were going fast, too fast, he yelled back to Eve, “Party Poppers!”  
She reached across with her foot and kicked the red party poppers button, and the back current rockets were engaged. Half a second later they were all flung in the opposite direction. Riddick grunted as he hit Rehtaeh as he was thrown forward against her. Rehtaeh’s right shoulder popped out of socket, she growled in pain but she held on. ‘Tough woman, damn sexy,’ He thought as they slammed to a stop and he hit the back of his seat, Rehtaeh clamped her legs around his knee to keep from hitting him in the groin as they jerked to a dead halt.  
“I think I shit myself.” The Ox said, as they came to a stop inside the bunker.   
“Disgusting,” Rehtaeh said, she shifted her shoulders, and there was a slick wet sound and a loud pop as her shoulder slipped back into place. Eve glanced back at them with a terrified look on her face. Riddick smirked at her as she watched Rehtaeh use the bar above her to shift her weight for better balance on Riddick’s thigh.   
“Skittish Toombs,” Riddick called to the Merc, “Very skittish.”  
They were escorted inside to a massive tunnel system, with a rail car inside of it. Rehtaeh walked behind him and the others kept guns on both of them, all the way down to the rail car. He was pinned down first, lying flat on his back with his feet chained to a t-pin on the front of the cart and his arms chained overhead to another t-pin at the back. He was stretched right out, but he could still see everything around him.  
As they chained him down in the back, the Ox made another move on Rehtaeh. His beefy hand squeezing her ass, she stomped on his instep, elbowed him in the kidneys, and shoulder rolled him, twisting his arm into an arm bar. Even in chains, she was deadly. As he landed on his back with a scream, Toombs glared at her, she looked at him pointedly. Then Toombs looked at the beefy man on the ground. She had more than reached her limit, he was actually proud of her for not acting on her rage earlier, “I really don’t like to be touched, and after dealing with his shit and abuse, I should kill him for what he just pulled. Keep him off me, and I’ll be nice.”  
“Keep your paws off of her, I’ve seen her crush a man’s skull for less,” Toombs told the other Merc. “She let you off easy. What’s your number at, Furya?”  
“Four hundred eighty-four.” She said quietly, he looked sharply at her, then at Toombs who looked equally shocked. “You forgot to add the ones that followed me to Quintessa.”  
“You didn’t have to kill them, they were only there to follow you,” Toombs growled at her.  
“Yeah, right, because a gun to the temple is a simple shadowing technique,” Rehtaeh growled sarcastically, she shot Toombs a glare as she wrenched harder on the big blonde’s arm, making him squeal. “I can kill you anytime I want you dirty mercenary ox, keep your fucking paws off.”  
“It won’t happen again, I swear it.” The Ox said, from his spot on the ground. There was something really dark and almost gleeful in Rehtaeh’s stance as she pinned the big Merc, it was as though she relished in his pain. She was more savage than she used to be. ‘When did that happen?’ Riddick thought as he watched her closely. Was it Remner? Or was it all those Mercs? She didn’t have a hope in hell in catching up with his numbers, but it was still impressive.  
“See that it doesn’t.” She said releasing his hand and stepping on top of the Merc on her way to the rail car. Rehtaeh settled herself into a corner near his legs, cross-legged in the only space available to her. The female, Eve, chained her to the same post as Riddick’s feet to ensure that the dumb ox would leave her alone. Apparently, the man decided to take the rebuff out on him instead by sitting on his chest, pointing his gun at him. Rehtaeh went into a state of meditation, he had seen her do this before when she was agitated or uncomfortable, or when preparing for a fight.   
“Comfy?” The Merc asked as he settled himself in on top of his chest. Riddick just looked up at him. Two strikes, one for mauling Rehtaeh and the second for sitting on him. The cart moved at a reckless speed through the tunnels, winding deeper and deeper underground. Careening around corners, everyone shifted back and forth with the movement of the sled. They were about five klicks into the ride when the Ox leaned over, licked two of his fingers and smeared Riddick’s goggles saying, “When the rides over your goggles are mine.”  
Strike three. He started counting off the lights, timing them out. Tapping his foot in the rhythm, at the third light he raised his body, pushing the dumb blonde ox closer and closer to danger. The Merc’s head hit the light at extreme speed, and he was swept out of the cart, dead. Rehtaeh hummed in appreciation from her place of meditation. Toombs looked back at them, saw that Rehtaeh was still sitting cross-legged, she hadn’t moved a muscle, and with her manacles chained where they were, she was too far away to have had anything to do with his disappearance. Riddick met Toombs' eyes and just shrugged and put his head back.  
Toombs looked at the Asian Merc and laughed, “Four-way split!”  
It didn’t take much longer to reach the bottom, Rehtaeh looked speculative for a moment, and Riddick took his bearings at the same time they muttered, “Twenty-Nine point Four Kilometres.”  
He heard her breathy chuckle, and then Eve unchained her, and she rose leaving him on the cart, waiting for the next phase of transport. The whole plan depended on Riddick getting into the prison. She could create whatever chaos she wanted later. The rail doors opened, and the guards stepped out.   
“So, this is Riddick.” The guard said in a heavy accent. He looked him over like he was a piece of meat at the butcher, looking for the spoiled part. His eyes flicked to Rehtaeh for a half a second before landing on Toombs. “Who’s the girl?”  
“His wife, apparently she is his accomplice,” Toombs said indicating Riddick. At gunpoint, they unchained him from the sled and led him out of the sled dock. They escorted them into the main office and lifted a hatch, hooked his manacles onto the ring and prepped the rig to lower him down into the hole, Rehtaeh stood beside Eve watching and waiting. “Another fucking Merc killer, Four hundred eighty-four kills so far, this time we caught her in the act. She’s also the one who got to Remner.”  
“Really? I thought Remner was executed.” The slam boss said coldly, his accent was thick, seemed Russian.  
“He was,” Rehtaeh growled coldly, from her place beside Eve.  
“Stay out of the shadows,” Riddick ordered her, her face tightened behind her glasses. She was going to break that order in every possible way. He could see it and feel it. The Mercs and the guards looked at them with questioning looks, but he didn’t elaborate, and she glared down at him in response. He could tell by the narrowing of her entire face that she was already looking for the loopholes. They pushed him into the hole, the manacles jerking hard on his wrists. He met her eyes as he was lowered away from her. He just hoped that she would wait until he made it to the bottom before she started trouble.   
“Take her to the kennels,” The slam boss told his second. There was a tussle as the second made to grab Rehtaeh and she of course resisted. She really couldn’t stand to be touched, and he brought her to a place where all women were often raped, and more often manhandled. He just hoped that he hadn’t gotten her in too deep, and that she could hold her own. He heard the man scream in agony, and he chuckled. He shook his head. This was Rehtaeh he was thinking about; she could definitely hold her own. He had been away from her for too long. He kept forgetting how strong and fiery she was.  
“I said don’t touch, do it again and I will take off your hand,” He heard her growl at the guard high above him. It was moments later he heard a door slam. She was in the kennels.  
Riddick looked around the multilevel prison that he was being lowered into. Each level was connected by a staircase as it wound deeper and deeper into the ground. The walls were made of both cement and rock and there was lava in the cracks in the floor below. It was hot and humid, he could smell sulfur and the overly abundant human smells of people who didn’t care for their hygiene, and he wondered if they went up to refresh the air. There were the cells lining the walls, but most of the doors were removed or badly warped by something big. All the railings were rusted up and in bad repair. He could hear a waterfall somewhere close, he just could not see it from his angle.  
The winch stopped mid-way. Toombs growled at the slam boss, “What in the bowels of Christ are you talkin’ ‘bout seven hundred K?”  
“Don’t take this one boss, he’s trouble.” Another man said from above him, he had a thick Russian accent.   
“Anatolli here has a nose for trouble, and this one, this Riddick guy.” The slam boss said, leaving time for Anatolli to jump in.   
“Big, big trouble.” Anatolli told them, his accent thick but his voice still audible, “The woman too, boss. She’s trouble, just like Riddick.”  
“So Seven hundred thousand is good money.”  
“I’d take the money Toombs,” Riddick called up, the winch started again and he was on his way down. He was a few feet from the ground when the winch stopped again. He was like bait hanging out for the fish to bite at, it was time to make his move and find Jack. He pulled himself up, leveraging his legs over his head holding himself upside down, then he let go and used the momentum to swing and roll himself up as he twisted the rope around his waist. He swung and rolled up again and then one more time. He readied himself for the impact and unrolled, angling the chain between the manacles for the weakest link. It shattered under his weight and he dropped, landing low on his feet, the heavy cuffs still on his wrists. He would have to get the keys off Eve later.   
They were on him like vultures, the first man running at him; Riddick spun hitting him in the gut and then the head. The second ran at him and he caught him midair crushing his throat and throwing him backwards. There was a third, he heard him coming was ready for him, but suddenly the sound of a chain lashed out and the man was pulled back, his neck broken. Riddick looked up at the sound of the chain ravelling back up, and there she was, Jack. He could smell her, she smelled the same as she had the last time he had seen her. Her own scent mixed with Rehtaeh’s, from the blood that the woman donated. He took off his goggles to get a better look at her, and there she was winding the chain around her hand and arm.   
A voice started talking to him, distracting him from Jack. “There are inmates, and there are convicts, a convict has a certain code and he knows to show a certain respect. An inmate,” Riddick looked back and Jack was gone, the man continued unconcerned. “Pulls the pin on his fellow man, does the guards work for him. Brings shame to the game.” He kicked one of Riddick’s would be killers in the face silencing him. Then he stepped over the man and continued up to Riddick. “So which are you gonna be?”  
“Me?” Riddick asked, he looked at the man, he had short curly medium brown hair with a bit of a scruffy beard, he seemed like the decent sort. Riddick knew automatically that this was the man running the inside. If he needed to get something this was the man to ask. The man beside him would be his second, these two men were the power in the internal chain of command. There was nothing he needed from either of them and until he figured out how this place worked there was no need to rock the boat. He looked them over quickly and dismissed both of them lowering his goggles back over his eyes. “I’m just passing through.”  
He walked away, following her scent. He found a cell, which had her scent and had just stepped in when he felt Jack’s presence behind him the points of her blades, digging into his back. “Should I go for the sweet spot? Left of the spine, fourth lumbar down, the abdominal aorta, what a gusher.” He pulled up his goggles and looked over his shoulder at her, “How do I get eyes like that?”  
“You gotta kill a few people,” Riddick growled at her.  
“I did that. Did a lot of that.” She dug her blade in a little deeper. He could feel the point digging into his flesh under his shirt. Riddick hauled her around him pinning her hands and her weapon above her head against the cell bars.   
“Then you gotta get sent to a slam.” He told her the next line.   
“One where they tell you, you’ll never see daylight again. Only there was no doctor here who can shine my eyes, not even for twenty menthol cools. Was there anything you said that was true?” She told him vehemently, she struggled against him for a moment in her rage. There was a lot of blame in her eyes, and not enough responsibility for her own actions. He pushed her up using his other arm between her legs, pinning her tighter to the bars. “What are you gonna do? Go for the sweet spot?”  
“Remember who you’re talkin’ to, Jack.” He whispered. He put his warning directly into his voice. She needed to learn some respect. It was her own fault that she was in this place, no one else’s. As much as he wanted to blame Rehtaeh, Imam and the others for not taking responsibility, he could not. Imam had told him that they all tried their best for the girl. Apparently, she didn’t want to start a new clean life. She seemed to be hell bent on leading a life of hell. What she didn’t understand was that he never intended to live his life like this. It was the only life he had ever known, and he was trying his best to stay away from trouble.   
“Jack’s dead, she was weak. She couldn’t cut it.” She told him angrily. She kicked out the light, distracting him for just a second and swiped her face at him. A tiny blade from the corner of her mouth nicked him across the cheek. He dropped her to protect himself, and she was gone. He spun around to locate her, when he saw her again she was just out of his reach on a walkway outside the cell. “The name’s Kyra now and I’m a new animal.”  
She kicked off the wall and jumped to the level below; he raised his hand to his face and felt the blood build in the small thin cut. Then he heard the beasts, the beasts in the kennels, they had been quiet up until now, he hoped she was okay. Then he shook that thought away. Rehtaeh was always okay, she was too smart to be killed by beasts.


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46  
Rehtaeh  
“Don’t touch.” She growled, as Smirnove escorted her to the kennels, his gun brushing against her ass, and moved suddenly between her legs. She spun and punched him in the throat, and then kneed him in the groin. He screamed in agony and bent over holding his junk. She spun on her heel and walked quickly into the kennel and slammed the door behind her. “I said don’t touch. Do it again and I will take off your hand.”  
The beasts in the cages got up to look at her, starting to growl. She let them get angry and started pulling the darkness towards her. Riddick said that she couldn’t go into the shadows, he said nothing about her not touching them. She felt the darkness for their souls and for the first time ever, she found that the beasts were warm in her presence. These creatures felt warm to her senses. They were her kind of beast; they were compatible in an animalistic way. These creatures seemed to sense her darkness. She walked around observing them, touching their shadows letting them get to know her presence and her scent.   
She walked from cage to cage, meeting their eyes one at a time, silently introducing herself to them. Slowly their growls ceased, and they watched her with curiosity. They seemed to be cross breeds of some sort, catlike in many ways, and yet dog like in others. Instead of fur, they had hard scales that bristled out like quills when they were riled, and heated several degrees from black when calm to hot red when they were angry or about to attack. As each one accepted her, their scaly coats lowered and blackened showing their sleek forms. They accepted her within minutes; it was as though she was being adopted into their pack. They were quiet, and she was visiting with them, while she watched through the shadows and listened to the drama happening around her.  
Pressing her palm into the shadow, she watched as the winch lowered Riddick lower and lower into the prison. They were haggling over Riddick’s bounty and hers now that the Mercs gave the guards her made up profile and bounty. Stupid Mercs. And damn Riddick for hauling her into this place, just so he could rescue Jack. And damn Jack for getting herself into this mess in the first place. Toombs was obviously not getting as good a run as he thought he was going to, he stopped the winch and heard him growl at the slam boss, “What in the bowels of Christ are you talkin’ ‘bout seven hundred K?”  
“Don’t take this one boss, he’s trouble.” Another man said from above him.   
“Anatolli here has a nose for trouble, and this one, this Riddick guy.” The slam boss said, leaving time for Anatolli to jump in.   
“Big, big trouble.” Anatolli told them, looking up from the weight bench, “The woman too, boss. She’s trouble, just like Riddick.”  
“So Seven Hundred Thousand is good money.” The slam boss said to Toombs, restarting the winch lowering Riddick into the bowels of the prison. These slam bosses were not as stupid as they looked, at least they weren’t as stupid as most of the Mercs she ran into. They were still stupid enough not to check her DNA and identification, hmm that gave her a great idea. She just had to wait until Riddick was in general population. She could hear the prisoners banging their metal against the rails, telling of the new arrival. Her eyebrow quirked in thought, another ancient tradition from earth that was still in practice. Humans, as much as they progressed, they remained the same.  
She heard Riddick call up from inside the prison, “I’d take the money, Toombs.”  
Rehtaeh wandered from kennel to kennel, reaching her hand into the cages petting and scratching each beast until they were calm and fast asleep. She curled up against the door in front of number five the largest, a male, it reminded her of Riddick. She listened to Toombs conversation with the slam boss and waited for them to come back for her.  
“You see the guild pays us a caretakers fee for each prisoner each year, we pay Mercs 20% of that total fee based on a certain life expectancy.” Another slam guard was telling Toombs.   
“How’s about this, you open that safe you have hidden behind that console there, show me the real books, we figure out my cut, and then I’ll be on my way,” Toombs said in response.  
There was a loud bang, like someone closing something. It was too light in that corner, she couldn’t see much there, so she could only assume that it was the safe closing. “You want me to open my books? This is what you suggest?”  
There was some shuffling around in the office, tension was running hot. Mercs versus guards. Everyone was reaching for a weapon and readying for a fight. Toombs growled, “It wasn’t a suggestion.”  
“These are dangerous days,” The slam boss said, she could hear liquid pouring into a glass, and then another glass, “If you believe the talk.”  
“Talk?” Toombs asked. There was tension in his voice, a tick in the muscle near his eye, as he avoided acknowledging the threat of the Necromongers.  
“About dead planets, about some ghost army, about-,” The slam boss whispered the last word, “them.”  
“Them?” Toombs asked as if he didn’t know what the hell was going on in the world. He had seen the desolation in New Mecca. He knew better than most exactly how real the threat was.   
“Not just talk,” Rehtaeh called in a sing-song voice from her position by the beast. The pounding from below stopped, Riddick was in Gen Pop. She reached within the shadow and saw him taking out a couple of inmates, a third went for him but Jack handled it with a massive chunk of chain. She could play with the guards and Mercs a bit.  
“I’ll run the numbers again, It take a couple days probably. So you can stay as my guest, at least here you are all safe, Yes?” The slam boss said, Riddick was in, she could hear him below. She stretched her hands into the shadows and started looking around the slam office. She found the verification computer and stretching her hand through entered her name and put her thumb onto the verification pad. A tiny needle protruded and took her sample, starting to process for verification. She knew it could take several hours before her sample went through the system and shit would hit the fan. She was about to pull her hand back through the shadows, when the slam boss rose from his chair and walked towards Toombs. She waited until he was far away from the chair before she flipped it onto its side. She laughed loudly as everyone in the room spun to look at the chair. She laughed louder when they all brushed it off and looked towards the kennel. She wondered what Riddick would have to say to her when he found out that she could see through the shadows without walking through them.  
“I’ll give it a day.” Toombs said in return, “One.”  
“Now about the girl. I need her name and file number and a DNA sample.” The slam boss told Toombs, who was just about ready to leave for the sleeping slots in the back.   
“I already gave you her file. It’s all in there.” Toombs told him hedging, “along with the video file of Remner’s murder.”  
“Execution!” Rehtaeh called from the kennels. She saw the security screen for the prison hanging on the wall, and another brilliant idea popped into her head. She pulled her wrist computer from the shadows, within minutes she sent a copy of the file to the security system. Setting it to play on loop. “Get it right Toombs, your vendetta with me is weak as it is. By the way, I already gave you a sample of DNA, it is coding now.”  
“You say it’s all in the file. If I find you fixed it, I am going to take it out of your cut.” The Russian told Toombs, looking at the DNA pad, sure enough the sequence was sent, they just needed it verified. She laughed in satisfaction as the Mercs exchanged questioning glances. None of them entered her sequence, and none of the guards did either.  
“What the hell is that?” Anitolli asked looking up at the security panel screen.  
“Looks like a video file. An alliance video file.” Smirnove stepped closer to the screen, reading the name and file number at the bottom of the screen. On the screen the video was picking up a massive wall of what looked to be womans body parts. “It’s Remner’s evidence video.”  
“How the hell?” The slam boss looked at Toombs, who looked a little sick.   
“Don’t look at me man. My video doesn’t have this part.” Toombs said, his voice was almost chagrinned. The guards and Mercs looked at the video in horror and Rehtaeh chuckled quietly. They wouldn’t like it in a few hours when it re-looped for the eighth or ninth time. By then it would be unbearable, since she set it to get louder with every loop.   
“I like your beasts. What are they, exactly?” Rehtaeh called moving to the main door of the kennels. “They are really friendly. So calm and relaxed.”  
“What the fuck?” The slam boss growled and came to the doors, sure enough all the beasts were sleeping soundly in the cages. She used her manacles and ran them over the barred doors, clanging loudly. Not one of the beasts stirred.   
“Get her into Gen pop.” There was some shuffling on the outside of the door and two men came in heavily armed. They both trained their guns on her; she stood to the side, leaning on one of the cages. As they came in the animals stirred, starting to growl. She moved closer to the first beast and it quieted, the gun was on her now and they were forcing her towards the kennel doors that led to the prison. One of the guards grabbed her ass, and she stomped on his instep, breaking a couple of bones. They shoved her through the door roughly, and it slammed behind her. The moment she left the kennel area, the beasts started growling and howling, making quite a ruckus.   
She was left with the manacles and chains dangling on her wrists, so she reached into the shadows and slipped them off. She brought them out and called one of the guards back she reached through bars and dropped the manacles into his hands. She met his shocked eyes and smiled her most evil grin, “I don’t need these. You can keep ‘em.”  
She reached into the shadows again and pulled out her boot knives and secreted them in their scabbards inside her tall boots then she turned to survey the prison. It was basically a big bowl, dug deep into the ground. The stairs and rails made their way haphazardly around the walls. There were cells along the walls but most of the doors were destroyed, and the ones that were intact were rusted and well bent. She was certain that her scaly friends had the honor of doing that to them. She was on one of the top levels coming from the slam office, so she made her way down. She passed Riddick and Jack leaving them to their reunion. She wanted nothing to do with either one of them yet so she just kept walking.  
She was a level below Riddick and Jack; she could feel their presence just above her. She started walking towards the nearest staircase and was immediately approached by two males, both of whom towered over her. They were hoping to get frisky with her, and tried to trap her against the wall. She let them. One of them leaned right in close, so she drove her elbow into his nose and her knee into his groin. As he doubled over in pain, she kicked out his knee, effectively dropping him. She looked at the second man and smiled her prettiest smile. “Would you like some too, Sugar?”  
He looked at his friend groaning in pain and took off in the opposite direction.  
“The name’s Kyra now, and I’m a new animal.” She heard Jack say, flipping over the side of the level above and landing right on top of the bolting man, slamming him to the ground. Rehtaeh couldn’t have planned it better if she tried.  
“Have you earned that name yet, Jack?” Rehtaeh growled looking at the young woman. Her hair was longer, but her face was the same as it was three years before. She was taller, and her figure was fuller as well. The little girl was gone, but the question remained, did she grow up at all? “Or should I keep calling you Jack Shit?”  
“Rehtaeh,” Jack gasped seeing her standing in front of her. Rehtaeh raised her glasses, and looked at the girl. They were at a standoff, one woman against the other. She waited for Jack to say something, anything that would tell her either way, whether she should waste her time or not. “I am surprised to see you here. Never thought you would dirty yourself, just for what, me?”  
“You were pretty clear about your feelings for me. I know when I am not appreciated.” Rehtaeh growled at the girl, and then she threw her words about her back in her face. “I am here for him, but then, I am just his whore. So that shouldn’t be a big surprise to you.”  
“Figures, it’s always been about him, you never did care about me, did you?” Jack was taunting her now, trying to draw her into a battle.  
“You keep telling yourself that, Jack. Maybe someday you might believe it.” Rehtaeh countered, stalking towards the girl. Jack tensed visibly expecting a fight. Rehtaeh brushed past her, as though she was nothing to her.  
“Where’s your buddy, Heath? You done two timing Riddick?” Jack tried to insult her, the blow struck Rehtaeh at the heart. Her blood lust spiked instantly. She turned and grabbed Jack by the throat hauling her up against the rock wall.   
“My nephew is dead, the Necro’s killed him the same night they attacked Helion Prime and wiped out half of New Mecca. You should learn to speak kindly of the dead, Jack. Heath was a good man, a family man. He and Carolyn kept searching for you long after our last meeting, not that you would know, or care, you never gave him a chance.” Rehtaeh said her voice was filled with rage, but she kept her face void of emotion, not ready to deal with it yet. “Hell, why should I be surprised, Jack? You never bothered to get to know any of us.”  
“My name is Kyra,” The girl yelled at her, obviously still angry. Struggling against her arm, Jack tried to get loose. Rehtaeh might have been shorter, but she was still stronger, still the better fighter. Rehtaeh stopped, released the girl and walked away before she did something she really would regret.  
She choked back the emotions that were threatening to erupt and turned from where she was, looking back at Jack, “No, You are still Jack Shit to me. Until you learn to respect me, and what I have done for you, that’s all you will ever be.”  
“Rehtaeh, get your ass up here. Now,” Riddick ordered from above her, obviously angered while listening to their exchange. “Use the shadow.”  
She reached into the shadow and walked through the stone wall, leaving Jack and several other prisoners looking at her with their jaws on chest. Half a breath later she walked out of another shadow joining Riddick on the level above.   
“Was that really called for?” Riddick growled at her pinning her with a glare, his rage was running hot. She hadn’t seen him this angry since the time she went into catharsis on their way to New Mecca.  
“Really, Riddick? For the disrespect she showed me, the names she called me, and for trying to kill me?” Rehtaeh looked up at him defiantly, her voice a feral growl that everyone could hear, including Jack. “Twice? She deserves another ass kicking, I went easy on her.”  
“What’s with you and the girl?” Riddick asked her, his voice low, for her ears only. She tried to duck his arm and stalk away, she was shaking, she was so mad. He grabbed her wrist and spun her pinning her against the rocks in the lightest part of the cell, where she couldn’t reach a shadow. Fuck he was too damn smart for his own good.   
“Hmm, should I give you the full laundry list? Or the short version?” Rehtaeh growled at him, the skin to skin contact was messing with her mind. On the one hand, she was still in a fit of rage, on the other, she was superheating for him like she always did. “First she called me a home-wrecker and a coward. Then she severed my spine. That scar you touched? That’s her handiwork. That’s my payment for trying to keep her safe. The little chicken shit couldn’t face responsibility and ran like a rabbit. When Heath found her and we tried to talk some sense to her, she told me where to go and how to get there. Called me a whore, sorry, she called me your whore.” With every word her rage grew, she could feel it starting to take over. She slammed her free hand against his chest in frustration, and he pinned it too.   
“Is that it?” Riddick growled at her. He adjusted her hands into one above her head. Then he used his free hand to trace her jaw line, his fingers stopping just over her pulse in her throat. She couldn’t stop the thrill that went through her as he took up a ploy he used on her when they first met. It mixed with the rage to create something potent. The growl that slipped from her throat was a whimpering snarl.  
“Back to this game, Riddick?” She said huskily, his roaming hand was setting her on fire. The heat of anger flared into all consuming animalistic lust. He was tracing her collar bone to the small dip at the bottom of her throat. Then he ran his fingers down her sternum to her heart, his palm flattened and splayed out brushing heavily against the sides of both of her breasts. She couldn’t stop the small mewling noise that left her throat at the intimacy.  
“Just seeing if it still works.” He whispered lowering his head, his lips just millimeters from hers. “I forgot how effective this was on you, and from the looks of it, it works even in a blood lust. What else happened Rehtaeh? Don’t make me ask again.”  
“What happens if I do?” Rehtaeh whispered heatedly, his eyes went cold and he started to pull away. She growled and continued, “We ran into each other at a transfer station a couple years later. She tried to go for the sweet spot. I refuse to put up with her bullshit. After dealing with Remner, and a few hundred Mercs just trying to keep her safe, I think I deserve a little of her respect.”   
“Stay away from her, Rehtaeh,” She was focused on the hand that was cupping her breast, brushing a thumb over her nipple. She didn’t answer him, just gasped and pushed against him. He was driving her insane. “Let me deal with her. Do you understand?”  
“I will if she will, I can’t promise anything.” He let go of her wrists. She leaned against the wall, trying to get her legs to stop shaking.   
“Good girl.” He whispered, huskily pulling her up by her hair, he kissed her hard. Claiming her with his mouth, she kissed him back, matching him stroke for stroke. Tongues dancing together, curling and exploring. When they broke apart they were both breathing hard. Her blood lust flared even higher, amplified by her reaction to him. She was completely unaware of the audience they attracted across the prison. He looked down at her and whispered, “Stay out of the shadow’s Rehtaeh.”   
She grinned at him and pulled her wrist computer out of the shadow behind him and strapped it on, punching in keys, screens popping up. Riddick looked at her and glared, “What the fuck do you think you are doing?”  
“Setting up my insurance policy, this is an escape game, isn’t it?” She quirked a brow at him as she punched in the last few commands, once she was certain the information was correct, she hit send. It finished loading, and she pulled the computer off, dropped it back into the shadows and walked away from him. She could feel his eyes following her as she went to discover her new surroundings.  
She went down two flights of stairs, and turned towards the sound of rushing water. Her thoughts were on Jack and Riddick. When she walked away from the girl, she was so livid that she was ready to kill. Until Riddick got a hold of her and she became putty in his hands. He was a master at manipulating her. Damn it, she still had every reason to be pissed at him. Now she was all riled up and wanted to jump his bones all at the same time. How the hell did he do it? She was only half paying attention when three men approached her as she made her way to the broken pipe that supplied a shower of water. One of them was the same who tried to attack her before her spat with Jack, the one she left writhing in pain.  
“That’s our girl you’re messing with.” One of them growled at her.  
“Yeah? That’s nice. What’s between her and I, has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it.” Rehtaeh pushed past them, one man grabbed at her right arm, she spun and decked him with her left, clipping him in the temple knocking him unconscious. She felt the man behind her reach for his knife before she spun and saw the shiv in his hand, and she had already come up with hers. She struck at his offending hand, cutting all the ligaments and tendons in his wrist, the knife dropped uselessly to the ground the man started screaming in horror. The third man had his own knife drawn and was circling her.   
He came at her, swiping at her chest, and she twisted away from him. He came at her again, coming up from below, and she countered his attack. This man was much more skilled than the other two were, and Rehtaeh got excited. A real fight, her blood lust spiked at the idea of a real challenge. His knife slashed again, and she caught the blow with her own blade. His knife was a shiv, it was well made for prison ware, but hers was military grade made for combat, perfectly balanced for her hand. He stabbed at her trying to go for her neck, and she parried again bringing her hand up to block as he punched with his left. He was slowly pushing her back, and she was a couple feet from the wall behind her. He was purposely trying to trap her, and she was letting him, leading him back.   
When he thought he had her, she went on the attack, she was smaller, faster, and unfortunately for him, well trained. She spun toward the wall and used it to kick back, spinning and hitting him the jaw with her left boot hitting the trigger for her toe knife, slicing his face. He fell back a bit with a scream, but he was still standing, and she wasn’t finished. She ran at him throwing a right, left, uppercut combo, and watched him arc backwards under the momentum of her punches. He stumbled away, and as he gathered his feet to come back at her, she hit him with a spinning back kick to the sternum. He flew backwards hit the railing and barely grabbed it in time to save himself from falling to his death.  
“I said stay out of it,” Rehtaeh growled at him, and walked away, leaving him to dangle there. She took several deep breaths trying to calm the battle rage that flowed through her. Ever since Remner her self-control seemed to be slipping. Only hours spent in deep meditation helped to keep her calm. She was in a slam filled with cons, thieves and killers. There was no way she would be able to meditate here. Looking around her she could see people watching all over the prison from the shadows. Many of them expected trouble from the inmates, initiating the new arrivals, and others looked as though she was the instigator, looking down on her. Whatever. She didn’t give a shit what they thought of her as long as they left her alone.   
She passed the waterfall and went lower and lower into the pit, most of the prisoners stayed as far away from her as possible after that, having seen that she was just like the other female in Gen Pop. More than capable of taking care of herself, in fact most of them were now terrified of her, while they seemed to cautiously accept Jack. She was approached slowly by a scruffy bearded man with brown curly hair and another man, his second a darker man with black bushier hair. They were both wary of her, and she of them.   
They stopped a few feet away, looking up at the injured prisoners from her latest fight. One was bandaging his wrist, the other his face. “I see you have met some of the inmates already.”  
“Yeah, what of it?” Rehtaeh looked at the two men, trying to gauge who they were. She was not used to the way a prison worked, but these two seemed to act like they were the main men, the go-to guys. She thought momentarily of reaching for a knife, but neither of the men were making any moves, and there was not a single other person within her sensory perimeter.   
“You should be careful not to piss too many people off,” He warned her quietly; his arms were crossed over his chest, a purely defensive action. His dark friend was standing a few feet behind him keeping look out. “They have a tendency to gang up on you when you are not expecting it.”  
“Then I won’t have any problems.” Rehtaeh sighed softly, looking up at him through her eyelashes. She stretched her arms back and popped her joints. Her shoulder was still tender, having dislocated it twice within days of each other. She rolled her neck, and it popped as well. She relaxed, the tension relieved.   
“How so?” The dark man asked her, his curiosity obviously getting the best of him. Her attempt at relaxation had intensified his defensive instincts.   
“Two reasons.” She looked up at Riddick who was two levels up looking down at her, and then over at Jack, on the third level on the opposite side of the prison, who was watching Riddick. “One I won’t be here long, with or without them, I will be out of here within two days. Second I don’t like people, I can feel them coming, makes my skin crawl. As long as they stay away from me, they will live.”  
“I’m Ceryll the men here call me the Guv, this is Sybar.” The bearded man held out his hand to her. She looked at it and then looked at him, slowly he lowered his hand.  
Her eyebrow quirked in a non-vocal show of sarcasm, “Sorry Ceryll, I don’t shake hands. My name is Rehtaeh.”  
“What makes you think you can escape this place, Rehtaeh?” Sybar asked her, he stepped closer and she stepped back.  
“I’m gifted.” She said turned and walked away from them, she walked through a long shadow on the floor reached in and pulled out her long jacket. She shrugged her arms into the sleeves, pulling the warm garment onto her shoulders. From the looks of everyone here it was warm in the prison, but with all the people around her, she was freezing. Then she climbed the stairs the material of the jacket flicking quietly with each prowling step.   
She found a shelf carved deep into the rock in an unoccupied corner on the first level, creating a dark recessed area where she could hide out unmolested. She sat on the edge and turned inwards pulling her legs up into her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her head on her knees. She rested there for a long while, allowing her eyes to close and her body to rest. She was starving, but she hadn’t seen any food of any form so far, she was exhausted, but this was a prison and could not allow her senses to slip in any way. She felt him as he approached, and she growled quietly, letting him know he was not welcome.  
He growled back and said, “Thought I told you to stay out of the shadows.”   
“You can still see me can’t you?” She snapped at him from her curled position. She was still mad at him. Manhandled by Mercs, mauled by guards. He shouldn’t have brought her here. Seeing Jack just made her regret, she refused to be controlled by her regrets. Manipulating her earlier only made her angrier. “Technically I am in darkness, not shadow form.”  
“You skinned Remner?” Riddick asked her, his voice was cold, and a shiver ran up and down her spine. He grabbed the tail of her hair and started to wrap it around his hand. She could see the blade dangling just under his palm. “You skinned him alive.”  
“You know I did,” She whispered not raising her head, her voice sounded hollow to her ears. She thought about what she did to him and the feeling of power it gave her. She felt both sickened and excited by it. Her heart pounded in her chest as she remembered the smell of the blood and then applying the gel to amplify his screams. “I cut his flesh away from his body in little strips, one for every girl he killed. One thousand Three hundred and Ninety-seven little strips of flesh. He screamed the entire time. I can still hear him sometimes.”  
She was met with silence, cold silence. She was a monster. He would probably hate her now. There was no point in holding back the rest of it. “Part of me loved it, revelled in the power of it. Knowing he could never hurt me or any other person ever again. After that, it got easier and easier to kill the Mercs that Toombs kept sending my way. It woke something dark inside me. I thought I got it under control, but it eats at me from the inside. How long will it take before I lose myself to this darkness and the need to kill?”  
She closed her eyes and curled up tighter, a defensive reflex, her heart accelerated, and she forced herself to calm down. She grabbed her hair and pulled it out of his hands. He was quiet for a long time. Too quiet. She turned away from him and slid herself deeper into the shadows. He had to hate her. Hell half the time she hated herself. “Could you leave me alone now? I’m not feeling sociable.”  
“You and I don’t socialize,” Riddick growled down at her, he grabbed her foot and pulled her towards him. She fought back, kicking out at him and hitting his hands away, but within half a second he was on the shelf with her and had her pinned beneath him. She gasped and pushed up against him, barely moving him two inches off of her before he slammed her back and pinned her again. She reached for the small knife hidden in the tail end of her hair. She released the binding and pressed the razor sharp blade against his throat. He growled at her, and she brushed her knuckles gently against his skin, the blade brushed away the very fine stubble from his neck. He grabbed her wrist and pressed on the pressure points in her wrist until her hand opened and he pulled the blade out of her fingers.   
He pulled off his goggles, and took her glasses off of her face, and then he looked down at her. He bit her lip and kissed her hard. Her heart soared. He rocked against her and she gasped as the heat from his body spread through her like wildfire. He traced the knife from her ear to the tip of her chin and down her throat, as his teeth nibbled on her ear. She gasped in delight as he whispered, “New game, no screams, no sound. I bet you can’t do it.”  
She bucked against him, telling him to get on with it. He peeled her clothes off of her, and she did the same for him. Somewhere along the way, the small knife disappeared. They were touching, petting, caressing, nipping, biting, and scratching, whatever it took to try to get the other to make some noise. She kept biting her lip to keep from calling out, and whenever Riddick noticed that she was doing it he would bite his teeth into the nearest sensitive spot on her body, her nipple once, her ear another time, and then her clit twice. She kicked him in the thigh for that, better to be violent than lose the game. If he was gonna play dirty, she would too. She tried twice to go down on him, and twice he pulled her back beneath him.   
Finally, he entered her, driving her into the hard rock beneath her, she rose to meet him. There was not a lot of room in her alcove, so positioning was limited, that didn’t stop them. They were brutal to each other, the bite marks and scratch marks were deep, his strokes were hard and fast, there was no give from either one, and yet neither one called out, or said anything. She felt the tide within her rising higher and higher, the need to be silent made it a slow and erotic climb. Her climax hit her like a hurricane, hard and fast, creating wave after wave of pleasure. She came for him again and again, as he pounded in and out of her, until he spent his seed in her womb. He stayed there for a long moment, both of them breathing heavily and he told her, “I win. You made a sweet mewling sound when you came.”  
‘Bullshit!’ She thought, ‘he growled when he came!’ She tried to protest, and he kissed her back into silence. When he pulled away, she met his eyes, his shining silver eyes, and her heart calmed like it always did. She felt safe, secure. How did he do this to her? He shook his head and rolled off of her, pulling out, and started to dress. She did the same, this was a prison, and the last thing either of them needed was to be caught with their pants down. She saw him tuck her small blade into his waistband before he stepped back into the light.   
Once she was dressed, she joined him there. “Can we get the hell out of here now? What the hell are we waiting for?”  
“An opportunity,” Riddick told her quietly, he still didn’t like to share his plans. Obviously, that hadn’t changed in five years. He was not forthcoming with his plan. She would have to improvise her own and hope they meshed.  
“I can create an opportunity now.” She looked up at him with her eyes furrowed. “I have weapons, I can go open the doors. It is quiet up there right now.”  
“There is a lot of light up there. Very few shadows to go through Rehtaeh, can you jump from here into the office with all that light? Are you going to take them out by yourself?” Riddick started shooting down all of her ideas. “There are a minimum of fourteen people up there right now, do you think you can take them all?”  
“Maybe I can jump you in there with me. You and I could take them. We have taken out more than that before.” She looked at him, she was frustrated, she was hungry, she was angry, and she wanted to go home. “I have enough weapons for the two of us.”  
“You told me your longest jump was forty feet with a hundred kilos, you would need to jump at least eighty to keep the surprise. And that’s getting close to the top. The office is a hundred yards from here at least.” Riddick growled at her, shooting more holes in her ideas.  
“I want to at least try Riddick. I can’t stand this place, I want out now.” Rehtaeh started to pace, looking around her from shadow to shadow.   
“Tell you what,” Riddick looked at her meeting her eyes. “You jump me from that alcove on the eighth level over to that ledge up there, and keep your feet. Do that and I will consider it an option.”  
She looked from the alcove to the ledge. The distance was at least eighty feet. The distance she would need to go to make a successful attempt on the Slam Office. It was twenty feet more than she had taken Heath, and that had taken all of her energy. She needed to try. She needed to at least give it a shot. How the hell was she supposed to get better at shadow jumping if she never practiced?   
“Deal.” She turned away and started for the stairs, they made their way to the eighth level together, inmates moved quickly and quietly out of their way. They didn’t talk. Neither of them said a word. Rehtaeh took several deep breaths settling herself, and centering herself. The technique her mother taught her to be able to cope with people. She climbed to the edge of the alcove and looked across the prison to the ledge where he wanted her to take him. She closed her eyes and concentrated on making sure that she was prepared for the jump. She turned to him holding out her hands, he looked at her for a long moment before taking them in his own. “Concentrate on the ledge. That is your destination, do not allow the shadow realm to distract you, and do not let go. Got it?”  
“Got it.” He looked her in the eye and then looked out at the ledge. She stepped back into the shadow behind her and hauled him with her. He was in the shadow with her, pulling him through. They were half way and she could tell the moment that he became disoriented by the shadow realm. Even with his amazing eyes she knew that he would not be able to see here, and it would require him to imagine the ledge they wanted to go to. He became heavy, she felt as though she was trudging through thick cement. Her heart was pounding, and it felt like she was being pulled down.   
“Riddick, the ledge, think of the damn ledge,” She gasped, a massive pain arcing through her head. She thought of the shadow in the ledge, that was her re-entry. “Imagine the fucking ledge, and nothing else. See it in your mind’s eye.”  
She reached for that shadow with every part of her being, pulling him with her, slowly but surely she felt herself rematerialize on the ledge, she felt him reform from the shadow beside her. She looked around and was happy to see that she had done it. The pain in her mind exploded, and she cried out squeezing his hands in her own. She had gotten them to the ledge, but there was no way that she had energy left to fight on. It had taken everything in her power to get him here, and she had stretched herself to the absolute limit.  
“You were right. I’m not strong enough yet.” She whispered in agony, she felt the blood build in her sinuses as she slipped into blackness.


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47  
Riddick  
He didn’t realize that the darkness would be so all-consuming, or that his physical form would be pulled apart. The sensation of weightlessness and the sudden tingling as though his flesh had fallen asleep, threw him for a loop. Where their flesh met, it felt as though she was burning him, welding her flesh to his. He got lost in it, the sensations were overwhelming, and he lost track of the ledge. He felt the sudden lag, as though they were on the prison sled when it was coming to a stop.   
“Riddick, the ledge, think of the damn ledge.” He heard her gasp, she sounded like she was hurting, and he clutched her tighter and did what she asked. “Imagine the fucking ledge, and nothing else. See it in your mind’s eye.”  
He did what she asked and pictured the ledge in his mind. She squeezed his hands painfully tight, like she was holding on for dear life. Then they were there, his body came back together, and he could feel the rock beneath his feet. She did what she promised she could do. She jumped both of them from the alcove to the ledge.   
“You were right. I’m not strong enough yet.” She sounded pained, he looked down at her. Blood seeped out of her nose, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. His heart nearly stopped. He caught her seconds before she fell off the edge. He knew that if he hadn’t gotten lost in the shadow realm, she would still be standing. Damn it! She had warned him not to get lost in the shadow realm. He remembered her coming out of a shadow carrying Suleiman, smelling of blood. What the hell was this shadow jumping doing to her?  
His first instinct was to shake her awake and yell at her for her recklessness. His second was to protect her while she healed. She was still breathing, her heartbeat was beginning to slow and return to normal. He clutched her against him, holding her in his arms as he slid them both to the ground. He held her cradled in his lap so that she was propped against him. Her head rested on his chest, as he leaned against the warm stone looking out over the prison. He dozed there for a bit holding her safe in his arms. He woke as soon as he heard her whimper in pain. She clutched her head, her heart accelerated as she started to thrash in the midst of one of her nightmares. He stroked her face and her hair, gently rousing her from sleep. The ledge was very narrow, just enough room for the two of them. There was not enough room on the ledge for her to flay around in one of her night terrors.   
Her eyes snapped open and rose to his. He looked down at her. Her glasses were clear in the darkness, he could see the dark purple ring around her silver eyes. “You should have told me what it would feel like.”  
“I am sorry, Riddick.” She whispered softly, she closed her eyes for a long moment, drifting in and out of sleep. Her voice was muffled and slurred when she continued. “I don’t know what it feels like for you, Heath told me that it felt different every time.”   
“The other night in New Mecca, you took Suleiman through the shadows didn’t you?” He growled at her, squeezing her tight.  
“Yes,” she wrapped her arms around him as though she was trying to burrow closer. “Short jumps, he was unconscious, just too many jumps too fast.”  
“You just have to push too far don’t you?” He growled in her ear, he remembered the bruises and discoloration around her torso from the power cell, the broken ribs and punctured lung on the Kublai Khan. Since the day he met her she was taking risks, pushing her limits, never stopping to consider the consequences. He clutched her close and whispered in her ear, “Stop fucking risking your life.”   
“It’s my life to risk, Riddick.” She growled defensively and sat up trying to pull away from him. He held her close. He was not letting her go until she submitted in this. She looked up at him and touched his face, her hand was gentle. “I need to test the limits if I am going to get stronger. This is new to me, if I am to have any chance at controlling it after my first cycle is done, then I need to practice now. I need you to trust me, trust my instincts.”  
He wanted her safe, how was he supposed to keep her safe if she kept taking risks? He was surprised by this protective streak that he felt for her. She was independent, and she didn’t need him in her life making decisions for her. He needed to trust that she would be careful. She told him that she would only sacrifice herself for him and he never intended to be in a situation where he would need saving. He released her, she was right, he needed to trust her. “Fine, but you stay out of the shadows for now. Don’t want to give away our hand.”  
She turned in his arms, straightening and turning into him. Her glass covered eyes level with his goggle-covered gaze. Her hands moved up to cradle his neck and head, pulling him in for a gentle kiss. It was short yet soft and sweet. A submission of sorts. She pulled away and their breath mated and mingled as he held her gently in his lap.  
She stood and pulled off her jacket, rolling it up making it into a pillow wide enough for the two of them. Then she lay down on her side and tucked her left hand under her head. He saw the mark on her palm and his rage began to grow again, that mark was a betrayal. When did she get it, why didn’t he notice it before? It didn’t seem to bother her in the least. Why? Wedging herself against the wall, she made room for him to lie down beside her, giving him most of the space as well as most of her pillow. She smiled softly as she patted the stone beside her, inviting him to sleep beside her and closed her eyes. He took her invitation and the place on the pillow, laying on his back, stance wide so that he wouldn’t roll off of the ledge. His shoulder brushed against her chest, and she curled against him, wrapping one of her legs over his and her head in the crook of his neck, using his body as a pillow.  
He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her even closer. When did he decide that she belonged to him and only him? While on UV6 he often tried to imagine her getting on with her life. A life with someone else, with a family of her own, the thought was painful. Emotionally painful. Physically painful. He couldn’t believe his thoughts, if anything she was a weakness. Someone to steer the hell away from, yet he hauled her into a slam, against her wishes, why? When during their separation did he decide that if he got a second chance, he would keep her close? He looked at her for a long time trying to figure out what the hell was changing between them.  
“I love you, Richard.” She whispered softly. He was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly missed it. He didn’t miss the brush of her lips behind his ear. She was out within seconds, drifting back into restless dreams. He followed soon after.  
Ever since his return to New Mecca, his dreams were filled with images of what had happened to him on Furya. Being an infant at the time there should be no way that he could remember, but he did. He could smell buildings burning, people screaming. There was ash, and debris and chaos. His mother had been in the streets during the invasion, running for safety when she went into labor. Her water broke in a moment of chaos and confusion, stumbling in pain she made her way into an alley seeking a safe quiet place to give birth, he felt her terror as he left her womb. They were hiding beside a large trash bin behind the liquor store, when through the darkness came a man with a horned helmet. His newly opened eyes watched as the man hit the brave woman who gave him life, killing her instantly. The man then reached for him cutting his cord from his mother and wrapping it around his neck. Instinct and pain and lack of oxygen made him drop into unconsciousness. For years his dreams were filled with parts and pieces of his past, but never until now did he remember most of it, the Necromongers walking through the Furyan night destroying everything in their path.   
He woke with a start, feeling as though someone was walking over his grave. Rehtaeh was up, she was sitting on the ledge near his feet looking down over the prison, taking in everything, getting her bearings and memorizing everything. He sat up and she looked over at him and indicated that she was going below. He nodded once, in understanding.   
She grabbed her jacket from the ground, and he watched in amazement as she dropped it into a shadow. The concentration on her face told him that she was putting it with everything else. She was carrying a lot through the shadows, and he could see her getting stronger and stronger every time she did it. Perhaps it hadn’t been a great idea to keep her from using her ability. It was obvious that she needed to practice it, she needed confidence in her actions, but she needed balance as well. She tended to let other things go when she concentrated for too long on one task, she was that focus driven. He just wanted her to be smart about it. Her recklessness the night before scared him, when she collapsed in his arms he was certain that she pushed herself too far.   
He watched her as she climbed down from their perch and made her way to the waterfall, she took off her glasses and rinsed them under the falling water before dropping them into the shadows around her. She stepped under the water and started to wash away the blood, ash, debris and sweat from the previous days. Her clothes were sticking to her form, revealing more and more of her fine athletic body. Even the layers of fabric and the silk of her bra couldn’t cover the bountiful curves of her breasts, and her skin tight jeans glimmered in the low light accentuating her beautiful ass. He would never get enough of her, he felt his need for her growing again. He climbed down intending to join her under the water when he noticed Sybar watching from one of the cells.   
“You and she, together right?” Sybar asked him, he didn’t acknowledge the question just growled territorially. The other man put up his hands defensively, body language telling him he was not poaching, “She ain’t my type; she looks wild and crazy. Just curious about her. She seems to think she can just waltz out of here at any time.”  
“She could, but she won’t,” Riddick told him as he watched Rehtaeh under the pouring water as she pulled the hair tie from her braid unravelling the thick blonde locks, her hair looked two toned. The parts that were exposed were a deep dull greyish blonde, while the parts underneath, hidden and protected were bright and silvery. “She never gives up on people, so she will stay and wait, and play the game.”  
He walked away from Sybar as the Guv joined his second and Riddick made his way down to her. She was pulling clean thick strands back and away from her face. She felt him coming towards her, he could tell because when she turned towards him, she smiled and had a gentle, inviting sway to her hips. She looked up at him as he took of his goggles and hooked them on a piece of hanging metal near the water. She sighed when she saw his eyes, a purr of contentment coming from her throat. He wondered for a second what it was that she saw in his eyes. Most women feared him, feared the animal in those same eyes, or were turned on by the wildness in them. Rehtaeh was different, she was turned on by his touch, or by his words, she never feared him, always reacted positively towards him, and if anything she became calmer when she could see his eyes.  
She stepped away so he could wash, but she had barely gone a half a step before he hauled her back against him, and kissed her possessively. He could hear her heart pounding in her chest as he stroked his tongue against hers. Delving into the warmth of her mouth, she played along stroking hers against his. She arched up against him, and he hummed his appreciation pulling her closer. Her arousal was potent, he could smell the sweet and spicy musk made even more potent by the humidity surrounding the waterfall. She wanted him again, and she wanted him right then. He knew she would damn near give him anything he wanted, even here. He pulled away and bit her lip playfully. The corner of his mouth curled up telling her that he knew exactly how she was feeling. She stepped back, breathing heavily and touched her kiss swollen lips with her left hand. He stared at that hand for a half a second. There was only one thing left that he needed to discuss with her.  
He pressed her back into the darkness behind the water. Where there was more privacy, fewer prying eyes. He grabbed her left hand with his and pressed on the small scar in the fleshiest part of her palm. He held her hand up showing her the offensive mark. “How do I remove this?”  
“You can’t, it is permanent. It’s a blood oath it can never be removed or revoked.” She whispered softly, she was surprised by the sudden change of pace. She was still trying to keep up to him.  
“Who gave it to you?” He looked at the mark, it was the right letter, but it was not his mark. He released her hand and leaned her back against the rocks pulling her legs around him. She gasped and arched against him, her heartbeat accelerating. He knew she liked this game, she always had.  
“I told you, Grayson gave me the mark.” She gasped as he pressed his thumb against the scar in her back, rubbing it gently knowing the skin around it would be super sensitized. A small whimper left her throat, “We made the mark before he went on a mission with my brothers and I went into cryo, he is long dead, Riddick.”  
“Who was he?” Her heartbeat spiked and her eyes slid away from his, concentrating on the waterfall. In that moment he knew she was hiding something, something she didn’t want him to know. He ground her against him and buried his head in her neck. Her arousal spiked, her sweet and spicy scent surrounded him, as he growled a low warning, “Answer the question.”  
“His name was Grayson Riddick Brennan,” He ran his hands up her sides slowly, pushing up the hem of her shirt, his thumbs skimming the underside of her silk lace bra. Her arms reached up brushing his shoulders. There was almost no resistance, she just allowed him to distract her into answering questions. “He was your ancestor.”  
“You are blood bound to my ancestor?” Riddick asked her, he couldn’t believe it, there was no possible way, but he did not detect a lie. Her nod was barely perceptible, with a tiny, “Ya-huh,” then she shook her head trying to clear her mind, pulling away. This only made him want the answers more. He began to nibble on her collar bones as his thumbs stroked up over her hardened nipples. “What were the words? Tell me the words you spoke.”  
“U-united by blood, my heart entwined with yours, until we meet again.” She stuttered. Her voice sounded choked as she said the words, he could hear her breath come in heated pants. He brushed his lips over hers as he thought about the meaning of the words. The man was long dead, but she was blood bound to his family, her heart sworn to his bloodline. Her heart was pounding in her chest, he could hear every beat, her legs tightened around his hips, “R-Richard please.”  
“So you bound yourself to my family,” He whispered pushing her back against the wall, pressing his body against hers, he pressed the hard ridge of his erection against her and she began to shake. She was superheated, he was sure he could make her come without even getting her out of her clothes. “You pledged yourself to my bloodline. I am the last of my line. Your mark is promised to me.”  
She looked up at him in shock, her silver pupils flashed in the darkness, in the shadows of the waterfall. It was obvious that she hadn’t seen it like that at the time. When she made the mark, she was unaware that she would live five hundred years in Cryo Stasis. That she would never see her friend again. A frown settled on her face, she was still trying to deny that she belonged to him, or at least she was denying it to herself. He rocked himself against her again, and she gasped her head falling back, exposing her throat to him. Complete submission.  
“If I cut my mark on top and say the words Heath and Carolyn used?” He asked her next, his teeth grazed that smooth white throat with the throbbing pulse, just under her flesh.  
“Nothing, unless I mark you in the same way and we say the words together,” She said saucily, she was trying not to give in. Her heart was beating quickly in her chest, her breath coming in quick pants. He chuckled lowly at her attempt to slow him down. He knew the bond had to be sealed by sharing blood, she was avoiding the question.   
“What would it mean?” He growled. He hated having to repeat himself and she knew it. She was pressing him on purpose, he pulled out her little shiv and settled it just under the middle of her bra. Threatening her precious silk lace. He used that to his advantage when her uncertainty spiked. He was pretty sure that it was a marriage thing, some sort of mating union. He just wanted to hear her say it.  
“We would be bound together in marriage.” She met his eyes for a moment. She calmed almost immediately. Her heat faded, and she became serious. Then her eyes slipped away, he looked at her sharply and he growled. She side and touched his face, looking back in his eyes, the game was over, “It would be eternal, Riddick, a blood bond is unbreakable. The marriage could never be annulled. There could never be a divorce.”  
“You would never have asked me, would you?” He growled at her. If he didn’t watch Heath and Carolyn swear their oath, he would never have known about her mark or what it meant. She would never have given herself to him in this most fundamentally Furyan way. His heritage, his mark, would be lost forever.  
“I couldn’t, Richard, I swore to you I would never make you stay. You didn’t want attachments, remember?” Looking him straight in the eyes she spat the words at him, reminding him that at the time he was not interested in anything other than a good fuck. “Asking you to bond with me would break that oath.”  
Was that the only thing holding her back? Was she even interested in carrying his mark, would she wear it proudly? “That’s bullshit, you should have at least told me about the bonds-.”   
“Don’t even go there, Riddick.” She growled at him, cutting him off. He heard her heart stop, it skipped a beat, and accelerated, a sob of frustration caught in her throat. She slapped her hands against his chest. “I didn’t even know about the Furyan blood bond until Heath found a history book that said that my blood bonds were still in practice at the time of devastation.”  
“There is a history book?” Riddick looked at her sharply, where the hell did they find something like that? He caught her hands and raised them to each side of her head.   
“Yes, Carolyn has it with her on the ship. So she can teach the boys the Furyan traditions.” Rehtaeh released her legs dropping them to the metal grating below their feet. She pushed against him trying to create space, he refused her.   
“You want to teach those children the Furyan traditions, and yet you hide them from me?” Riddick growled as his rage grew inside of him.  
“You didn’t even know you were Furyan until two days ago, Riddick.” She raised her knee suddenly trying to escape him, he countered and pinned her legs as well. Like lightening, she went from being super serious to being completely enraged.   
“You could have told me,” Riddick argued hotly, her eyes flashed and she growled in annoyance.   
“Before or after we fucked? Before or after the war, being taken prisoner by Necros, hauled in by Toombs. What the fuck do you want me to say, Riddick?” She said between gritted teeth, she was beyond hot for him he could smell her arousal along with her peppery rage and her eyes were beginning to go bloodshot. “A lot has happened in five years. Tell me when the hell did you decide that you suddenly wanted to blood bond with me? While sitting on UV6? Or was it while you were fucking me? That’s all I ever was to you. A good fuck. And you know it.”   
It was true, once, a long time ago. Even though she told him many times that she loved him, he was not able to return her sentiment. Somewhere along the way she got under his skin. At some point he allowed himself to get attached. Did he love her? If her promise wasn’t in the way, would she ask him? If he asked her, would she accept him? “If I asked, would you-.”  
“Unless you mean to bond with me for the rest of your life, you will not even joke about it. You know as well as I do that I would mark you in a heartbeat, Richard B. Riddick. I would let you make your mark over Grayson’s. I would speak the oath and mean it with every fiber of my being.” She looked up at him, her eyes burning with her anger. She was ranting, her voice was beginning to carry, her control slipping, “I would willingly give you everything, but are you willing to do the same for me? Are you willing to give up your precious freedom to be tied to me? Once we are bound, I will not share, Richard. I will kill anyone who dares try to take you from me. So don’t ask me if you are not willing to be mine and mine alone. Don’t you dare.”  
Her soul was entwined with his, and the mark she bore pledged her to him, he even publicly claimed her as his own. She was his regardless of whether he marked her or not. He looked down at the mark his ancestor made, and he kissed the mark on her hand. Her heart picked up its pace, her breathing came in short angry gasps. He could see her trying to control her emotions. Meeting her startled gaze, he smirked, “Regardless of what you say, this mark means you are mine. You belong to me. When you least expect it, that is when I will ask.”  
He released her and turned back to the waterfall. She growled audibly a she shook her head and walked away with a puzzled frown. He watched from the corner of his eye as she pulled her shirt back into place and made her way around to a bridge and stood there alone watching him. She tensed visibly when Kyra approached, she said nothing and didn’t look at the girl, and she just waited to see what the kid would do. Kyra stopped just feet away from Rehtaeh and knelt down to watch him as well. If he weren't so comfortable in his own skin, they would have given him a complex. When several minutes passed without a word, Rehtaeh made to leave, turning her back on the girl.  
“Rehtaeh, stop,” Kyra whispered hoarsely. He could hear her voice echo softly across the prison level. There was no such thing as privacy in this place. Rehtaeh stopped, but she didn’t turn back, she just waited. Rehtaeh seemed to be waiting for Kyra to either attack her verbally like last time or something, anything. “You were right, I was an ass, I figured I knew everything, and when it blew up in my face, I took it out on you. When I threw the knife, it wasn’t intentional I swear! On top of guilt over Suleiman’s death, I - I just couldn’t take it.”  
“Unless he died in the attack by the Necros, or unless he converted, Suleiman is alive. We kept trying to tell you, but you were always too bull headed to listen.” Rehtaeh said. Her voice was so soft that he nearly didn’t catch her words. A glance told him that she had still not moved a muscle, she stayed motionless, her stance not shifting. Finally, she turned her head and looked back at the girl, “regardless, you did the one thing that not a single person in over five hundred years has ever been able to do. You hurt me. Your words and your actions, they were horrible.”  
There was a long silence as the girl absorbed what she was told. He wondered which part surprised Kyra more, the fact that Suleiman lived or that Rehtaeh was over five hundred years old. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.  
“Five hundred years?” Kyra scoffed, rolling her eyes. Her voice was unbelieving, there were stranger truths out there, and Rehtaeh only spoke of her past to a handful of people. Kyra had better be paying attention. “That is about as plausible as having a nephew ten years older than you are.”  
“It’s called Cryo-Prison, Jack. Heath spent over four hundred years in a cryo-prison, and I was a cryogenic lab rat for five hundred. I would have told you all this if you stuck around. But no, you never wanted to listen.” Rehtaeh told her, her voice had an angry, sarcastic edge to it; she was giving the girl something new to consider. Apparently, Rehtaeh didn’t care anymore if anyone knew her real story but considering where they were there was no one here who would blab it to the world.  
“Riddick left you, and you weren’t even mad about it,” Kyra said miserably, recklessly. She seemed to be in the mood to air all of their dirty laundry, Riddick felt it was none of the girls business. Rehtaeh seemed to agree, he could almost feel her urge to walk away. He felt guilty for eavesdropping, but their voices were echoing across the prison. On the other hand, he was curious about what Rehtaeh had to say about it. “You acted as if you didn’t even care; you just let him walk away, and don’t tell me you didn’t know where he was. You are the worst liar.”  
“What can I tell you, Jack? I love him. I would do anything to protect him, even if it means living apart from him.” Rehtaeh whispered her voice was hoarse with a barely leashed pain that struck him in his center. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to find the place you belong, to find your home, and have to walk away? These last five years damn near tore me apart. Knowing where he was only made it worse.”  
It took everything in him to keep from looking at her. She said the words that were echoing through him for five years. Five long years away from her, that was why he needed to keep her close. That was why he wanted to protect her. That was why he claimed her in the eyes of the Necros, why advertising his bond with her to the Mercs was important. She was his home. She was his.   
“So you let him go? You didn’t fight for him?” Kyra asked her exasperated. He listened to them talk as he concentrated on washing the grime off of his clothes, using the fabric of his clothing to wash the skin underneath, a proper shower was long overdue.   
“Damn it, Jack! We‘ve been over this! Every day I wanted to go to him, but my every move was being watched by Mercs! Every fucking day was a struggle because all I wanted was to be in his arms, and I knew that if I gave in, he would die!” Rehtaeh’s voice was beginning to rise, she sounded like she was ready to burst. He didn’t realize that Rehtaeh missed him that much over the past five years. Yet she stayed away from him, knowing that she was being watched by Mercs. Never had someone cared about him that much. That was devotion. He wondered if Kyra would ever understand what it was like to care about someone enough to let them go. “Ever since I woke from cryo all I do is fight, and where the fuck does it get me? Hundreds of Mercs dead at my hand. Imam can barely stand to be in the same room as me! Carolyn and the kids are running to Quintessa. Heath is dead! You hate me! And Riddick-, I just don’t know!”  
“But you just keep letting us walk away!” Kyra protested heavily. He reached for his goggles, rinsing them under the water before putting them over his eyes and felt the cut on his cheek. A reminder from Kyra, about how much she had changed. It was healing, it had already closed up and he could feel it start to knit back together.   
“I didn’t let you walk away, Jack. You tried to kill me, twice.” Rehtaeh bit out angrily. He recalled the scar across her spine, mere millimetres away from the sweet spot. It would have severed her spinal column, how the hell could she still walk? Several times he brushed his fingers over it while holding her, and every time she went perfectly still. “Give me one good reason why I should chase around a kid who hates me as much as you do?”  
“I don’t hate you,” Kyra told her softly.   
“Could’a fooled me, Jackie.” Rehtaeh countered sarcastically using the feminine version of the name, rather than just Jack. He noticed that she still wasn’t calling her Kyra, but at least she had stopped calling her Jack Shit.  
He turned in time to see Kyra watching him, her face angry and yet he could see she was thinking about what Rehtaeh told her. Rehtaeh spun on her heel and walk away, her pace was slow, and yet he could tell that she was prowling. If anyone approached her, it would be their last moments. She was angry, she was hungry, and she was on the hunt. He could almost see her animal side take over.   
“Still here I see,” The Guv said as he walked up to him. “I’ve been here eighteen years. You have quite the woman there. Killing to keep you safe? That’s loyalty. See this?” The man pulled a silver wedding band down his finger from underneath the fingerless gloves he wore, the metal glinting softly in the low light. “I still remember how gorgeous she was, well gorgeous in a certain light, and now for the God Damned death of me I cannot remember her name.”  
“Feeding Time!” a call came over the intercoms. So they were going to let out the beasts that he had been hearing on and off for the past few hours.   
“We’re here for the rest of our unnatural lives.” The Guv taunted him as he walked away, closing himself behind bars. He was perched in a cell just across from where Riddick stood concealed behind the flowing water. “Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact.”  
He could hear the prison guards trying to get the animals moving, and the protests of the beasts. A low whistle sounded from the bottom of the pit echoing up into the highest reaches and the beasts took off. Their padded paws sifting and scrabbling through the rubble of a collapsed slope on the far side of the bowl. The tension in the prison escalated as he heard the screams of prisoners as they ran to safety and he heard Rehtaeh’s laugh from far below. How the hell could she laugh at danger such as this? Several minutes passed as the animals got their fill. He heard the beasts roar again as they made their way lower and lower into the prison searching for more food and she laughed again. Kyra’s voice rang out urging Rehtaeh to run, the warning echoed through his soul. The tension in his body rising.  
He heard a bang off to his left and then one of the beasts made his way past him. It was dark and scaly; the form was almost like that of a large wild cat, with dog like mannerisms. He thought for a moment that it would pass him, but after a moment it pushed its head through the falling water. It saw him in the darkness and started to growl, the scales all over its body started to lift and heat up several degrees. The beast had a tag in the ear with the number five on it. Ignoring Guv’s warning, Riddick looked it directly in the eyes, not showing fear, and not allowing fear to cloud any of his senses. He showed the beast that he was a friend, an ally, and the Alpha. Within a few minutes, he had the beast lying beside him as he petted his chin and patted his shoulders.   
There was more screaming, and Rehtaeh’s breathy laughter echoed across the prison, and there was a murmur among the inmates and the guards. She was up to something. She was always up to something. He patted the large beast before him, giving the creature his attention and the beast was reciprocating with appreciative grunts and growls. A lot of time passed before the entire prison fell into an eerie silence. He wondered if it was just the loss of several prisoners as the animals got their fill. He sensed Rehtaeh and smelled the blood on her before he even looked up. Her glasses were nearly clear in the darkness. He could see her eyes were as red as the blood that covered her. She was in a feral state. A blood rage. He could see the animal inside her, so close to escape and he wanted nothing more than to release that beast, just to make it submit to his own.  
There was a buzzer, and the animals took off. The two females turned from Rehtaeh and ran the opposite direction. She turned to watch them go and then turned back to see Five stand up, the large beast nuzzled against Rehtaeh then he turned away and start toward the kennels. He realized then that Rehtaeh spent her time in the kennels getting to know the beasts. She knew that they wouldn’t harm her since she was part of their pack. The deference Five gave her said she was female alpha of their pack. Guv was standing there in shock watching the beast, the beast seeing the man behind the rails growled with his warming hackles rising and lunged at him smashing his head against the bars before continuing on. Guv looked at him in surprise.  
“It’s an animal thing,” Riddick told the man in explanation. There was really no other way to explain it. He heard Rehtaeh’s humming agreement and turned to look at her. She was covered in blood, not an ounce of it was her own.


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48  
Rehtaeh  
“I didn’t let you walk away, Jack. You tried to kill me, twice. Give me one good reason why I should chase around a kid who hates me as much as you do?” Rehtaeh bit out, her rage was barely held in check. She was trying her damnedest not to lose her cool, but damn it, how many times did she give this kid a chance to redeem herself? How many times did she have to rehash the same old shit? How many times did she have to walk away frustrated and disappointed?  
“I don’t hate you,” Kyra told her softly.   
“Could’a fooled me, Jackie,” Rehtaeh countered sarcastically. So, trying to kill her twice was out of what? Love? Bullshit! If she decided to give the kid one last chance, it would be for Riddick’s sake and no one else’s. Maybe this time the girl could prove herself. She turned and resumed walking. Jack just stayed where she was; watching Riddick. Rehtaeh continued to walk she was going lower and lower down into the depths. She was able to walk unmolested now; after her little demonstration the night before, people were finally doing what she wanted them to do in the first place. They were staying away from her.   
She reached the hot cracked, uneven bottom of the pit when there was a call over the intercoms, “Feeding time!”   
Rehtaeh looked up, and grinned. They were letting the beasts out to play! She could hear them roaring above them. She started to laugh as everyone started to run. She was at the bottom looking up; she took off her glasses to watch, dropping them into the depths of a shadow. The beasts were slow to come out at first, the guards poked and prodded them she whistled quietly from the bottom and they were off. They hauled down several of the slower inmates, those who couldn’t get to safety. Rehtaeh watched fascinated as the beasts revelled in their short time in freedom. Men ran in every direction scrambling to get to cover. Slamming gates behind them, trying to chain them into place since the locks were long gone.  
She saw Jack get away just in the nick of time and felt an unwanted swell of pride for the girl. Jack was a survivor, over the past five years she had picked up the right instincts. After the beasts got their fill they made their way towards her, Jack screamed for her to run. They were stalking, prowling towards her, she could sense them in the shadows, and she reached out to them in greeting. They roared at her as they approached yet she just stood there waiting for them to come for her.   
She turned toward them her loose blond hair curling around her. They roared and growled again in greeting as they slowly stalked towards her, she raised her palms to them. She watched their prowling gaits and admired their sleek movements. Such wickedly beautiful animals. They both sauntered over and waited as she patted them and gave them attention, after a few minutes she looked into their eyes. “Hello Ladies, where is Five? Let’s go find Five.”  
She heard Jack whisper from a few levels up, “What the hell?”  
She pulled out her glasses and put them on as they headed up to the brighter areas of the prison. Walking between them they started back up the stairs, walking around and around, up and up through the circular prison. They went up several flights when a couple of men went to open their cell.  
“Not a good idea, boys.” Rehtaeh leered at them, a mischievous grin on her face.   
“They look pretty tame to me,” One of them said pushing against the gate.  
“Tame? Oh, they are about as tame as I am.” Rehtaeh laughed huskily, she wondered if they really were going to be that stupid. Sure enough, both of the men came out onto the walkway, the beasts started to growl in warning, the scales on their backs lifting in warning, rippling with anger and blood lust the red heat from within them radiated out, and she made sure she didn’t touch either of them. Still, neither man seemed to take the warning for real, in fact reaching out towards the beasts. The beasts did what they did best, and tore the men apart as other prisoners gasped in horror. She walked past Jack and told her, “I tried to warn them, they are about as tame as I am.”   
“Shit Rehtaeh, that’s not fair! You’re savage at best!” Jack scoffed a small smile pulling at her lips.   
“Well, apparently they didn’t get the memo.” Rehtaeh smiled back at the young woman, her wild feral grin made several of the men around Jack move back from the cell doors.   
“Is it true what they say, Rehtaeh? You didn’t just execute Remner, you skinned him?” Jack asked there was something about the question that hit Rehtaeh hard. She tried so hard to keep that knowledge from Jack, to keep her from thinking of her as a monster. It was time to face the fact that Jack already knew she was capable of murder. She might as well know the whole truth.  
“I didn’t just skin him, Jackie. I tortured him, then skinned him and listened to him scream for hours.” She was in the middle of a bloodlust, her blood boiled at the memory, making her feel wilder and even more beastly. Jack pressed forward in interest as the men around Jack started to pull away even further, “And then I opened the airlock and watched him implode. I am a monster, just like Imam thought I was, just like you said.”  
She turned to watch the beasts as they tore chunks from their prey, Jack grabbed her wrist, and she turned back to the teen. “It haunts you, though. I have seen it in your eyes Rehtaeh. You never wanted to be a killer, did you?”  
“I was genetically engineered to be a super soldier, raised and trained in the military to be a killer, an assassin, an executioner. I wanted to be an artist.” Rehtaeh whispered, her emotions were conflicted, but the beast was still in control. She looked at her hands, hands that could kill without weapons and she grinned. “Instead I am something entirely different. Whatever it was they wanted to make, it wasn’t me.”  
Rehtaeh was covered in blood from head to toe splattered in the blood from the men being torn to shreds by the hungry beasts. A couple of guards yelled at her and the beasts as they finished their meal, she turned and snarled at them, pulling her knives. The entire area around her went quiet, and the guards looked away, she could smell their fear. When the beasts got their fill, Rehtaeh and her beasts started forward again. She glared outwards at the guards who were watching in horror from their perch on the rope in the middle. When they made it back to the waterfall they found Five with Riddick. They stayed further away watching him in the darkness as he patted the large male. She admired Riddick as he gave attention to the big creature and stepped into sight with the females. She met his eyes, and her heart skipped a beat. The buzzer rang calling them back to their kennel, and the females ran back in the direction they just came from. Rehtaeh turned to watch them go. The large male got up and came to her nuzzling affectionately against her before headed for the kennels, stopping to look at Ceryll and growling as he lunged into the cell door.   
Riddick met the man’s shocked eyes and said, “It’s an animal thing.”  
Rehtaeh hummed in agreement as she stepped into view of the other man. His eyes widened in horror as he saw her blood spattered form. She flashed a small smile at him before turning back to Riddick. Her need to see the violence, to be a part of it was sated. She grinned at Riddick who was still crouched on the ground behind the waterfall. “That was fun.”  
“So I see.” Riddick looked her over and breathed in as she approached him. He stood and pulled her against him, taking in her scent. She damn near purred against him. Her animal side was so close to the surface, she was struggling to keep her humanity, when he did that it just made her want to let it loose. “Hmmm, my favorite perfume on a woman.”  
“Yeah, they got a little zealous with their last meal.” Rehtaeh smiled moving toward the waterfall, “They were starving, so who was I to stop ‘em?”   
“Did you at least warn them to stay behind the bars?” Ceryll was behind his gate, looking at her now as though she was the beast, worried that she would go after him next. She took off her glasses and rinsed them off before hanging them on the wire that Riddick had used earlier. She looked up at Ceryll, knowing that her eyes were her most feral feature. She heard Riddick’s purr of appreciation and smiled at him.  
“Yeah, I told them that the beasts were as tame as I am, for some reason they thought that meant they were docile,” Rehtaeh told him as she stepped under the warm water. “I don’t think the description fits.”  
Riddick growled in agreement before he walked away. She wondered for a moment where he was headed to, but if it had anything to do with Jack, she was going to give them their space. It was what Riddick wanted, he wanted her to give Jack space, and so that was what she would do for them. She washed away the blood fairly quickly and stepped out from under the water to see that Ceryll was still watching her with a contemplative look on his face. She wrung the water out of her hair and combed it through with her fingers. Then she started to braid it, flipping her hair over her shoulder so she would have better access. When she got to the bottom, she reached around her wrist and pulled off the hair elastic and wrapped the tail of hair.   
“Where the hell did you get that from?” Ceryll asked her, his eyes widened in surprise. She laughed, had he not seen her wearing it on her wrist just moments before? She reached up and grabbed her glasses and put them on, ignoring the question. “And the jacket earlier, you just pulled it out of nothing.”  
“I told you, I’m gifted,” Rehtaeh told him, a mischievous smile hovered around her lips. She stepped towards him, prowling like she was hunting him. She reached through the bars into the shadows beside him and pulled out one of her smaller blades, she showed him the razor sharp blade in the dim light, and then used it to clean under her nails. “Haven’t you been wondering why I prefer the darkest parts of this place? I can hide things in the darkness.”  
“What are you?” He asked her, he was intrigued by her and her actions, and she was pulling him in like a spider with her web.  
“You have heard of Elementals, yes?” Rehtaeh whispered, like it was a secret, what she was going to share. She looked at him from the corner of her eye as she cleaned her last fingernail and then wiped the fine blade on her damp shirt. He nodded, watching her in fascination. She fingered the blade, testing its edge, satisfied it was sharp enough, she tossed it into the darkness beside Ceryll letting it fall back into the darkness. She even went so far as to put it back in its casing, no need for it to hurt someone or cut one of her other things. “They can manipulate the elements, Air and Earth, Fire and Water. They are all about balance. You could say that I am a big contributor to their race. I am like them in a way and yet something entirely different. I am the chaos, I am the spirit. I am both light and dark. Good and evil. I am a great ally or a terrifying enemy. It is your choice which side you get.”  
“That doesn’t tell me what you are!” He called after her as she started to walk away. She laughed softly, her steps were silent as she walked away going through a dark tunnelled hallway allowing the darkness to hide her and her laughter to echo into the prison.  
“Now, why would I tell you that?” Rehtaeh looked back at him, with a small smile, “It would ruin all of the fun.”  
She wandered away and found a wall covered in shadows, she leaned against it and pushed both hands into the shadows. She searched through the shadows trying to figure out the locations of the Mercs and the Slam guards, she needed to figure out a plan to wreak havoc on them, to ensure their escape. She let her attention go to the Mercs who were bunked out together in the slots. They were restless, ready to go and were certain that the Slam boss was gonna roll them. She really couldn’t do much to mess with them, there was too much light in their rooms, and they hadn’t really brought any gear. She was about to pull away from Toombs’ room when in the shadows on the small desk in the room she saw a meal pack, it looked like an old-fashioned TV dinner. It wasn’t the most appetizing thing that she had ever seen, but she was starving. She took it and the fork with her and pulled back out of the shadows. She stepped into the darker shadows and ate the first meal that she had been able to have in days. When she was done, she returned the fork and the empty plate and went looking for more. Riddick and Jack might be hungry, so she figured that she would find them whatever she could. Once she came back with a bounty of protein bars, trail mixes and anything else that she could find she tucked it all away into the shadows.   
She chuckled quietly when she heard Toombs’ growly voice holler, “Who the fuck ate my supper?”  
She eased her mind back into the shadows and turned her attention to the Slam Office, if there was a way to mess with them it would take place in the center. The video on the security screen was still playing, it was just about to start into the actual punishment of the prisoner. His screams echoed through the office. The slam boss, Vasilev, was in the office, he had re-opened the safe and was doing checks, going over the books and reading some things on his computer. He glared at the screen, “Can someone, fix this fucking thing? For fuck sakes! It’s louder than last time!”  
She reached into the safe and shuffled around the papers searching for something she could use. She moved the cash into the desk and then the gun that she spied in the desk drawer, to the safe. There was a box of ammunition in the gun cabinet that she moved to a shelf above the lever systems. She picked up a few pebbles from the floor around her and jammed the triggers on a couple of the guns.   
Vasilev was working away on his system when a high priority message from the Alliance popped up on the screen. He pulled up the message from the Alliance with the warning that she was not to be incarcerated under any means, and that by doing so they were opening up the penal system for a full scope lawsuit. They wanted the names of the Mercs who brought her in and the circumstances of her arrival. There would be a full investigation into their slam. This would mean months of headaches for all of the guards, a full accounting of all the prisoners on and off the books.   
He groaned into his hands, rubbing his face, Anitolli and Smirnove entered the office looking pretty shaken up.   
“What the hell happened to you two?” Vasilev glared at them, this day just kept getting worse.   
“We went to talk to Girlie, like you asked. Had a run in with Riddick. Trouble.” Anitolli grumbled lowly as he came further in. He looked at the blaring security screen for a half a moment and then at Vasilev before he narrowed his eyes. “I told you she was trouble boss. Both of ‘em. Big trouble.”  
“Those fucking Mercs think that just because they don’t like someone they can throw them into a slam and walk away, we are going to have months of work ahead of us, thanks to those fucking idiots. She’s the Alliance’s executioner, for fuck sakes! Look what she did to him! Remner fucking deserved it, but those greedy Mercs only think about the money they would make from his hit list.” Vasilev complained to Anotolli. “I heard what she did with the hounds, the woman is a psycho and they want us to go in there and try to pull her out? Can this day get any fucking worse?”   
“Boss we spotted this crossing over the shipping lanes. It looks like it’s on its way here.” The slam pilot walked into the office as Vasilev tried his damnedest to figure out what the hell to do with her.   
“You have got to be kidding me! We need to come up with a plan, grab your shit and get ready.” He reached for a gun that had been sitting in a holster beside the desk and met empty air, the gun had been moved to a table on the opposite side of the room. He stood up and walked over to it, then looked back at the others. “What the hell is going on here?”  
She could feel the tension beginning to rise in the office above her. Watching quietly she just leaned against the wall and waited, it wouldn’t be long now.


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49  
Riddick  
He went in search of Jack, well Kyra now, that would take some getting used to. He bartered away a few small things he was carrying in his pocket for a tea bag and was drinking his freshly steeped tea out of a tin tea cup. The man he traded with told him where Kyra preferred to spend her time. He thanked the man and went after the girl. When he found her, she was being attacked by several guards. There were four, but she had taken down one of them until the other three ganged up on her and beat her to the ground. The large black man had her pinned on her belly with the handle of a massive sledgehammer under her throat.   
“I don’t think she likes being touched,” Riddick said coming out of the darkness. He pulled away from the rock wall, and walked toward them, taking a sip out of his teacup. “I’d take my wounded and go, while I still can.”  
The black man released her, and all three men stood and came forward, but it was the black man who spoke to him. “Is there a name for this private little world of yours? Huh? What happens there when we don’t just run away?” The man was an ass. He was completely full of himself and seemed to think that Riddick was some stupid lackey, or just another dumb con. He nearly laughed at that, if he hadn’t made the sacrifice play and given up to Toombs, Riddick would still be free. “You’ll kill us with a soup cup?”  
He could do that, if that was the way they wanted it. He had no problem improvising with the tea cup. He still had Rehtaeh’s little shiv in his waistband, he was originally planning on using that, but the idea of using the teacup held a certain appeal. The other men started to laugh, and he just looked at them, deadly serious and said, “Tea actually.”  
“What’s that?” The black man said when Riddick didn’t back down. He looked at Riddick as though he had lost his mind. Riddick played along. He took the last sip from the cup before answering.   
“I’ll kill you with my teacup.” He said as he placed the cup upside down on the rock beside him. Waiting for their next move. The black man moved back to talk to the other two guards, they spoke in quiet voices, but he could still hear everything they said.   
“You know the rules,” Smirnove, the instigator of the guards, said to the black man, Riddick noticed that he was more than willing to let the black man have a try, but hung back like the chicken shit that he really was. He was the same man who tried to take Rehtaeh to the kennels when they arrived. “They’re not dead if they’re still on the books.”  
The black man pulled a blade from the scabbard on his hip and turned toward Riddick ready to attack. He took two running steps towards him before Riddick smashed the lip of the cup on the rock, grinding up the edges, and then slammed it into the man’s chest, twisting it in for greater depth and destroyed the man’s heart. He pushed the man back, a cry on his lips he fell to the ground, the knife falling uselessly from his lifeless hand. It took a matter of seconds, and the large man was dead on the ground of the prison cell.   
The other two men had their weapons ready, but they were both scared. “Come on,” Smirnove said holding up his knife. Anitolli, the one with the nose for trouble stood just beside him. Riddick bent down and picked up one of those tin can keys for opening canned meat, he showed it to them before placing it neatly on the rock where the cup had been moments before. Both men’s eyes widened in horror as they looked at that tiny piece of metal, then they turned and grabbed the injured man that Kyra dropped earlier and left the area.   
Kyra sauntered towards the dead man and leaned down, looking at his handiwork. “Death by teacup,” She said pulling the cup out of the man’s chest holding it up. She was acting cocky and had a snide note to her voice, as though his creativity was a bad thing, “Damn. Why didn’t I think of that?”  
“I didn’t come here to play who’s the better killer,” Riddick said as he turned to walk away. Her attitude was really getting to him. Was this really worth it? He came here to get her, and there was absolutely no appreciation whatsoever.   
“But it’s my favorite game,” she said to his retreating back, he stopped. “Haven’t you heard?”  
“I heard you came looking for me.” He growled quietly. Against his direct orders, but he left that part out.  
“Is that all? Then you missed the good part.” Kyra said walking toward him, still holding the bloody cup. “Hooked up with some Mercs out of Lupus Five, said they’d take me on, teach me the trade, Gimme a good cut.” She put the cup back on the little ledge where he had placed it earlier. “They slaved me out Riddick, do you know what that can do to you when you are that age? When you are twelve years old?”  
He turned back to her meeting her gaze, “I told you to stay in New Mecca.” He pulled the light down, sparks flying in every direction, so he could pull off his goggles. He didn’t hold back when he yelled at her causing her to flinch away from him. “Did you not listen? I had Mercs on my neck! I will always have Mercs on my neck. I spent five years on a frozen heap just to keep them away from you, and you go and sign up with the same fake badges that wanted to cut you up and use you for bait.”  
“From the day Rehtaeh returned from Aguerra Prime there were Mercs on us! Why? Because of some bullshit ploy you used on a transfer station! When they couldn’t get to her they came after Suleiman and me! They tried to kill us to get to you!” The kid has some balls, it’s not like he was actually responsible for her. She was a runaway, a stowaway on a crashed ship. He saved her life and tried to give her a second chance at a good life, left her with good people to watch out for her, but it hadn’t been good enough for her. Hell she even went so far as to throw a blade at Rehtaeh. Nearly killing her, a woman who saved her life several times, so what the hell was Kyra looking for? He was no hero, and her worship of him had only ever caused her and everyone else trouble. “So, what are you pitching Riddick? That you cuttin’ out was a good thing? That you had my ass covered from halfway across the universe?”  
“Don’t you dare use Rehtaeh as an excuse! You tried to kill her not once but twice. What you did was wrong. On top of all that you signed with Mercs.” Riddick said quietly, that angered him like nothing else had so far. He should have told her what Johns had been planning, how he tried to get Riddick to kill her, cut her up and trawl her like chum to keep the bio-raptors off of the group. He never went into detail about what Johns planned for her that night, and maybe that was a mistake. He started to walk away, but he stopped at the entrance when Kyra spoke again. And using Rehtaeh’s return as an excuse? Bullshit! Rehtaeh’s reaction every time he touched that scar, told him that she was still emotionally hurt by what happened.   
“There was nobody else around,” Kyra said, turning away, slamming the cell door behind her.  
“Bullshit. You had something I never had. Family. You fucked it up, Kyra.” Riddick said walking away knowing she could hear him through the darkness. He was enraged, frustrated with the girl. No wonder Rehtaeh was so angry with her. He didn‘t even know the details of what happened. He did know that Carolyn was looking forward to taking guardianship over Jack. Heath loved Carolyn, would do anything for her, even deal with a hot head teen. They were family people. Riddick respected Heath for that, his loyalty to Rehtaeh, an Aunt he never met, just because she was family.   
A short time later, Riddick was perched on one level keeping an eye on the office above them. Rehtaeh was just below, running her hands over a wall that was encased in shadow, he could see her desire to go into it, but his order was holding her to the light. He knew she was not happy about it, but as much as her ability was a strength, it was also a weakness. He hoped that she realized that for herself. Her long silver-blonde hair was once again plaited and tied with an elastic hair tie at the end. It hung down the center of her back and swung like a pendulum when she prowled through the darkness. She was pacing, keeping her hand in the shadows, and looking up at the office above her, as if she could see or feel something happening above them. There was some snapping and cracking noises above them, and Riddick looked up to see the office rising and the swirl of dust and mist as they opened the air vents. A small smile started to curl her lips as she looked up at the rising office, he knew that look. Just what was she up to?  
“So they do go topside, to swap out air. Interesting.” Riddick mused from his perch.  
“Who the hell are you?” Guv asked him watching him closely.  
“When it happens, it’ll happen fast. Stay on my leg when I cut fence or stay here, for the rest of your unnatural life.” Riddick shifted over a bit making to move. He watched Rehtaeh pull something packaged out of the shadows and opened it up. She had found food.  
“Nobody out’s this place, Nobody,” Guv said looking at Riddick in amazement.   
Riddick jumped from his perch and joined Rehtaeh in her shadows, but he heard Jack say, “He ain’t nobody.”  
“Soon, it’s going to happen very soon. When it does, use the shadows.” He said softly as he walked up to Rehtaeh, who turned instantly towards him. She was always waiting for him. She held out an unopened protein bar, and at his annoyed look she growled at him to take it.   
“I know, I, um have been watching,” Rehtaeh confessed to him, he looked at her with an expression of annoyance, and she rolled her eyes at him. He loved her glasses, he could see her eyes in the shadows, and yet he knew that her eyes were protected in the light. She kept telling him she would follow his order, but play by her own rules. He took the protein bar but held her hand for a long moment, he quirked his brow wanting to know how she got it. She chuckled and ignored his unasked question. Instead, she said, “Did you know that they have pudding cups in the pantry? Chocolate! I would have grabbed some, but I can’t find a spoon.”  
“You didn’t just go up there for food did you?” He asked opening the protein bar and taking a bite. She might have been seen or heard or caught.  
“Nah, I just did a reach, I let my shadow go up and take a look around, stole Toombs dinner while I was snooping around, found a very well stocked pantry, let me know if you want more, I have a small stockpile of food in the shadows.” She was looking up again, her focus was on the rising office.  
“So what’s happening?” He asked her as her eyes suddenly unfocused but riveted upwards towards the office.   
“Well, a few minutes ago, the Slam Boss got notification that the Mercs duped them with a prisoner who has immunity. Let’s just say that Vasilev isn’t impressed that Toombs dropped me in here, the Alliance is gonna be all over them. The guards are pulling money from the drawer, a gun from the safe, oops things seem to be in the wrong spot,” She started to laugh, not just a chuckle but a full laugh she braced herself on the wall. Trying to calm down, “Do you have any idea how funny it is to watch ten slam guards look around for ammunition that isn’t in the cabinet where it belongs? So what’s this that I heard about a tin cup? Oh! The Mercs just came into the office,” She whispered to him, her glittering eyes widened in something between surprise and glee, she was riveted by the scene she was watching. Her unfocused eyes were glued to whatever scene she was watching in the shadows. She was such a fascinating creature. “Talking about money, and bad news.”  
“Comical.” Riddick shook his head, his lip quirked up in amusement. She had been messing with the guards and was watching her handiwork. Her delight was contagious.   
“Very.” She gasped as she struggled to stop laughing, she was getting odd looks from the other prisoners, “Oh, that was priceless, the ammo is found, trying to pass it out discreetly, the Mercs can tell something is up, guns are being loaded. Vasilev just passed Toombs a computer pad, I can’t see what’s on it, it’s too bright there, but my guess is the Necro’s that we have tailing us. Hmm, wait.” She paused for a long moment watching intently, she took a deep breath, and met his gaze, her eyes focused on his, “Yeah, the Necros are close, really close… and fireworks.”   
Sure enough, the office lit up like a Christmas tree, the gunfire set the room ablaze with white lights. Rehtaeh had already shadow jumped and heard the sound of her blaster in the chaos above them. There were roars from the animals and Riddick had a feeling that she had released the beasts. Riddick waited for his moment. There was a thundering explosion above that rained rubble down into the prison, and for a moment he worried for Rehtaeh. Damn it, he should have told her to hang back!  
Toombs jumped down the hole and grabbed the rope, sliding down several levels before finally stopping on the same level as him. The friction between the rope and his gloves must have been pretty intense since he seemed to be having trouble holding on. The Merc was complaining under his breath about maniac women and a bloody beast nearly tearing him to shreds. He waited until the gunfire subsided and then looked back at Toombs, who was holding the rope nice and steady for him. He stepped back and made a running leap towards the Merc.  
“Riddick! No!” Toombs yelled as Riddick jumped at him. He landed square, grabbing hold of the Merc’s vest and pulled himself even with him.  
He looked the Merc square in the face and said, “You should have taken the money, Toombs.”  
He started to climb, hand over hand all the way up to the demolished office. There was debris everywhere, he hadn’t seen such carnage since the ship crash five years before. Five was on top of the curly haired Merc, tearing chunks off of him, Rehtaeh was in a firefight with a couple of guards in the sled station. He looked around at the dead Mercs, the Asian Merc still held a used rocket launcher, a couple of guards holding weapons that looked as though they were sabotaged. It was then that he saw the computer pad Rehtaeh had been telling him about. Sure enough, it was a Necromonger ship. He heard a deafening explosion and Rehtaeh stepped out of a shadow beside him, and looked at the pad. She hit the release on the door locks to the prison, so that the prisoners could come up, as he went deeper in, heading toward the sled. He found Eve leaning against the wall, she was still alive, but barely.   
“You gonna kill me?” she asked as he picked up the keys to his manacles, he just looked at her. He didn’t need to, she was dying already, and he didn’t kill helpless women. Then he headed to the rail dock the doors were gaping wide, having been hit with something of heavy artillery. The sled was intact, but the rails and the walkway just in front of it were completely destroyed, in fact, there was a massive crack in the floor, Riddick went close and could see right down into the prison. It was too wide to jump. He walked back to Rehtaeh who after closing a screen on her wrist computer, picked up a security monitor from the ground and was looking at a screen. He looked down at it over her shoulder, it was a camera feed from the other side of the door, and he could see the destroyed rails, she flipped the image and found a stairway with the guards running up them; they were headed to the docking bay.   
Guv, Sybar, Kyra and a few other prisoners came up the stairwell from the prison, and were looking around. Five started growling his scales lifting and heating up, and no one moved.   
“Five, that’s enough, come,” Rehtaeh commanded. The beast instantly followed her into the sled bay. “The ass jackets that hurt you are headed that way, go get ‘em.”  
The beast took off the tunnel, taking a running leap and using the side wall the creature made it to the far side and after the guards. Kyra grinned while the other prisoners just looked shocked. “Where are the others?”  
“Still in the Kennels, Five still seemed hungry. I couldn’t leave without making sure he was fed.” Rehtaeh told her, and then she remembered something and started tossing protein bars out to the hungry prisoners.   
“Here Jackie, I saved the chocolate chip for you.” She tossed the last three to Kyra, the girl was just barely able to catch them all without dropping the others. It was a token gesture, one that she probably hadn’t even thought over. Whether she believed it or not, she was maternal and protective over the girl and always had been. Kyra’s betrayal had hurt her, but it obviously didn’t stop her from loving the kid. “Hey! Throw that in the garbage you idiot!”   
Rehtaeh went after someone for littering and had some of the con’s start putting stuff back together. He watched her fiercely lay into someone who tried to defy her orders. She warned him she was counting to three, and when he refused to listen, she slapped him hard on the back of the head. The young con moved his ass after that. He chuckled as he watched her, one of these days he was going to give her someone to be a mother to. He stopped that thought. Did he really want Rehtaeh to have his children? She caught him watching her and flashed him a grin. The one she only ever shared with him. Five years and that smile still sent a jolt through him. Hell, Yes. As long as he could be there to watch her grow with his child, to feel it grow within her, to be there for the birth and beyond, he would give her as many children as she wanted.  
Sybar finished eating his protein bar and threw his garbage into a bin, looked around and said, “Mercs, some guards here, but this can’t be all of them.”  
“Check the slots in the back, and be careful,” Guv ordered as Sybar picked up one of the guns lying on the ground.   
“Don’t bother.” He said as he came into the room, taking off his manacles with Eve’s keys. “Guards ain’t there. They figured out the Necro’s are coming for us. Plan was to clean the bank, ghost the Mercs, break wide through the tunnel. Guards took off on foot, but didn’t plan on Rehtaeh going after them and then somebody got a lucky shot off with this rocket launcher, and took out the sled bay. They’ll take the one ship in the hanger and leave everyone else here to die.”  
“How come you know all this shit,” Toombs said as he came up through the hole, the prisoners pointing their guns directly at the Merc. “You weren’t even here.”  
“Cause it was my plan. Give or take some added chaos.” Riddick said looking at Rehtaeh, who gave him a small smile from across the room. He locked Toombs into one of the cages in the kennel, the cage right between the two remaining beasts, his screams as the beasts started lunging at him through the bars made Rehtaeh laugh. The woman was absolutely crazy, and absolutely adorable. Rehtaeh pointed out the mechanism that would raise the office back up to ground level, and he set to work, with the pedal and lever.   
“Can you take us through the shadows to the hangar?” Guv asked, he seemed to be trying to figure Rehtaeh out, and had at least ciphered that the woman could use the darkness.  
“Hell No. That is a thirty-kilometer distance, with, what, ten people? Even if I went alone, thirty klicks is a big jump. I could go, grab the ship and come back for you, but it would take a hell of a lot of time that we don’t have. The sun would be up, and this place would be smothered in magma by the time I got back.” Rehtaeh told the con with a thoughtful look, she was trying to come up with various plans. She shot a meaningful glance at Riddick, within it there were thanks for testing her as well as frustration for not letting her practice. She had warned him that she was still learning her craft; maybe it was a bad idea to keep her out of the shadows. “Even with my Insurance Policy, the Necros would be here to annihilate all of us before I can use it.”  
“If it were that easy, we would have been gone yesterday.” He added looking at Guv, Rehtaeh nodded solemnly in agreement, and he looked over at Kyra. “We go by foot.”  
Kyra sidled up to Rehtaeh, who stiffened just slightly. “So you have an insurance policy?”  
“Do you remember the rules, Jackie?” Rehtaeh asked, keeping her eyes on him. They didn’t even flicker to the teen.  
“Be valuable, never fall behind, and carry insurance.” Kyra listed them off, she was looking down at Rehtaeh, her entire countenance was curious. Rehtaeh’s lip quirked up into a satisfied half smile, she nodded once but didn’t say another word. Riddick knew without asking that she was not ready to show her hand yet.  
There were murmurs of dissent as they questioned his thinking. Most of the prisoners were certain that the sun was going to kill them. Riddick was only going to guarantee three lives getting off this rock, and only because he knew that they were survivors. Neither Kyra nor Rehtaeh were the type to give up. “Twenty-mile buffer zone, and thirty klicks to the hanger.”  
“Thirty Klicks over that terrain?” Sybar said, he sounded defeated already. The office came to a stop, and he locked it into place looking out the window at the world around him. The world which was bubbling magma in daylight was a frozen wasteland at the moment, with jagged spires rising high into the night sky. Yet the terrain was passable, they could make it.  
“It’s moving in the right direction,” Guv said as he looked out the window, Riddick could hear the want of freedom in his voice. He was weighing his options and thinking of the possibilities. “We could make it. Stay behind the night, ahead of the sun.”  
“There’s gonna be one speed. Mine.” He told them all, he was deadly serious. “If you can’t keep up, don’t step up, you’ll just die.”   
“Check your weapons, people, I sabotaged them earlier. You don’t want them to backfire on you like they did to them.” Rehtaeh called out as they grabbed coats, jackets and whatever weapons they could find and headed out into the darkness, Rehtaeh looked at him and said, “I will meet you outside,” then touched a shadow and swirled into darkness.   
“Where the hell did she go, and how the hell does she do that. It is the third time I have seen her disappear into nothingness.” Kyra asked him as she pulled a cloak around her shoulders. He didn’t answer her. Those were questions she should ask Rehtaeh herself.   
“Seems he is as forthcoming with answers as his woman, she wouldn’t answer me either,” Guv said to Kyra as he pulled on a cloak of his own.   
He led them outside into the darkness. They were about to set out when Kyra asked him another question, “Shouldn’t we wait for her?”  
“Why? She is already on her way out.” Riddick pointed towards a massive black spire, and they all watched in awe as his Shadow Mage swirled out of the darkness, her glasses covering her beautiful eyes and her long jacket swirling around her. The red lace on the black jacket made her look as though she herself was on fire in the darkness. Her arsenal was in place, she looked every bit like the bad-ass he knew that she was. “Let’s go.”  
“Shit, where the hell did she get that stuff?” Sybar whispered in awe.  
“Still a fucking bad-ass,” Kyra muttered under her breath. “Woman’s got more weapons than a kid has toys in a toy shop.”  
Riddick hummed in agreement as he took off leading the pack. The few who were coming with them ran after him into the night, while the others stayed behind and closed the heat locks. He could hear the grind of the mechanism as they moved the office back down into the darkness. Rehtaeh was right behind him just as he knew she would be, and Kyra was right behind her. They ran over the hardened lava as fast as they could go, winding around massive spires and frozen boulders of hardened magma, jumping over crevasses and lava pools as they went.   
He led them into some shallow crevasses, always seeking the night side of the planet. When the sheltered crevasses died out, he climbed up and continued on. That was when they got lost, all but Rehtaeh, she was still moving her sweet ass towards the darkness, not looking back. He stopped for Kyra when she called for him, dropping his cape in front of her face and motioned for them to come up. The sun was coming up quick, and they needed to be moving.   
Back on the surface, they sprinted around the massive boulders, trying to keep the tallest formations between them and the sun. There were active volcanic fields ahead, and they were spewing light ash in every direction. It fell upon the surface for several klicks in every direction, coating the ground in fine silt-like powder. There was no way to go around the thick snow-like substance. Not slowing for a second he led them towards the massive wall of ashes. Rehtaeh was still out front, she was using her shirt as a mask to keep from choking on the dust in the air.   
She stopped and turned to him, and motioned to something to his left, and he watched as something rose out of the ground, it was a guard outpost, where they could take out any attempting escapees. She pulled out a small hand bomb and joined him in his shadow as he jumped on top of the hatch as it rose. She knelt down low as he was spun his weapon on a rope and slammed it into the face of the guard that was pointing his gun in the direction of Kyra. The man got off a lucky shot before he died and dropped one of the other prisoners, barely missing Kyra in the process. Rehtaeh pulled the pin on her hand bomb and tossed it into the manhole. She grabbed his hand, and suddenly he was once again surrounded in darkness.   
She didn’t give him a direction, so he concentrated on her and her alone. The feel of her against him and the intimacy of being combined into one shadow, the jump lasted mere seconds before they came out on the far side of a large spire, she grabbed his shirt for a second to steady herself, and he growled. An explosion wracked the ground, and the rocks beneath their feet shifted as the bomb went off. There were at least two men down in the tunnels and one injured. He could hear the screaming and yelling happening below ground. Then he heard the growling and screaming as Five caught up with some of the guards. The hatch started to drop, but Kyra kept shooting at it, as she ran towards it, shooting until she emptied her clip. She screamed in rage as the empty gun clicked in her hands. Then they were on the run again through the ash fields, as fast as their feet could carry them.   
“What was that, you don’t care if you live or die?” Riddick yelled back at her as they ran.   
“If I kill them first? Not really.” She told him haughtily.   
“Maybe I do,” Riddick growled at her. It took a lot for him to admit that to her. He hadn’t even told Rehtaeh how much he cared about her, not in so many words anyway. He had told her that she belonged to him, but that wasn’t quite right either. They both meant so much more. They were family. He could hear Kyra breathing heavily behind him. “Keep moving.”  
They had made it to the massive rock face that was in their way, Rehtaeh was climbing, she was a short distance away from him. Where almost everyone else had lost their jackets, she had kept hers. She was a steady climber and did her best to keep up if not ahead, it was getting hot, and there were fewer and fewer shadows available to her, but then she had not yet used a single one. Other than when she had gone in to grab her gear, she had not used the shadows. The stones were getting hotter and hotter, Rehtaeh had fallen behind a bit, he pulled her up after Guv and Sybar. She looked toward the hangar and then back to the wall and the sun coming up.   
“Kyra get that ass moving!” He yelled at her. She was the only one not on top, and he told everyone, one speed. He couldn’t leave her behind, she was the damn reason he was even here.  
The sun came up over the horizon blinding them all and super heating the rock. He couldn’t see Kyra anymore, and Rehtaeh was pacing in the small shadow that she had found. She reached into it, her eyes thoughtful.   
“Riddick!” Kyra called up to him, “Remember what I said about not caring if I lived or died? You knew I was kidding right?”  
He lowered his head in thought, how he could get to her. There had to be some way to get to her.   
“One speed.” Guv reminded him. There was a thundering noise coming out from the horizon, and they all looked out in horror to see the entire landscape was being covered in magma shooting up and firing in waves towards them.  
“Give me your gear, all of it.” He ordered Guv and Sybar.  
Rehtaeh stood straight and looked at him. There was something completely defiant in her eyes as she reached into the shadows. “I’m going to get her.”  
Then she was gone. He damn near lost his mind, “Rehtaeh!”


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50  
Rehtaeh  
She pulled herself out of the shadows right beside Jack. The girl was in a small recess in the stone, there was absolutely no room for movement. She reached for the girl who screamed in fright as Rehtaeh materialized out of nowhere. She turned the girl towards her and spoke calmly and evenly. “I need you to trust me, for once in your life, just trust me.”  
Jack just nodded at her, her eyes were wide with terror. “Close your eyes, do not open them, we cannot afford any distractions. Think of Riddick, only Riddick. I am taking you with me into the shadow. You need to think of a person, I will think of the place. No matter what you feel or hear, you do as I told you. And Jack, for once, don’t let go.”  
“You came for me?” She whispered to her, tears in her eyes. She looked like she was going to say more, but there was no time for conversation. There was a wall of magma headed right in their direction. They had mere seconds to get their asses out of there.   
“Don’t make me regret it. Let’s go,” Jack grabbed tight to her, and she reached with every part of her being towards Riddick and his strength. They disintegrated into the fringe of the shadow realm. It was hard, and it seemed to take forever just to pull Jack into the shadow. Then she jumped, she pictured the shadows high above them, where Riddick waited with Sybar and Ceryll. With all of her strength, she screamed all of the pain, rage and loneliness that had been building for the past five years into her battle cry and propelled them to the man who meant so much to both of them. She propelled them up and out finally feeling the rock beneath their feet as they landed in Riddick’s shadow.   
She steadied Jack, and then she collapsed. Riddick spun and caught her as she nearly succumbed to the vertigo that hit her. He kept her from slipping into a long slash of daylight as it heated the stone under their feet, it was his cry that alerted the others that they were back. It was a short jump, merely sixty feet, nowhere’s near as long as the one she had done with Riddick, it shouldn’t have hit her so hard. She could feel the blood building in her sinus cavity, she could see the darkness trying to invade and take her away. She shook it off. They didn’t have time for her to be weak. They were in grave danger and needed to keep moving.  
“Rehtaeh?” Jack whispered, gently slapping her face, trying to keep her from succumbing to the darkness that pressed against her. She tried to focus on the girl, but her image swam before her eyes. It was too much, it was too bright.   
“Yeah?” She shook off a wave of nausea caused by the overload of her senses. She blinked several times finally focusing on the brown haired girl with the pretty hazel eyes. She couldn’t help but think that Jack was becoming a very beautiful young woman.  
“I don’t care if you ever call me Kyra,” She met the girl’s eyes and there were tears there, and uncertainty. “When you call me Jack, it reminds me that I need to prove myself to you, and-, and I like it when you call me Jack or even Jackie.”  
She just looked at the girl for a long moment, trying to swallow the lump that formed in her throat. She wasn’t sure if she should be honored or pissed off. The look on the kids face said she should feel honored. If that was what the girl wanted, she would give it to her. Finally, she nodded.   
“Everyone run, don’t look back. Go, Kyra, go! I got her.” Riddick told the others as he pulled against his body, crushing her to him. Pulling away he shook her once and growled at her, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, do you understand me?”  
“It was a calculated risk. I had to do it. I couldn’t let you go again,” she looked up at his goggled face and touched his cheek. He always risked his life for others, playing the reluctant hero. It was her turn to pick up the slack, to give him a break for once. “I may never be able to let you go again.”  
“This isn’t over. We are going to talk about your calculated risks.” He growled at her, then he grabbed her hand, and they ran together towards the hanger, keeping the mountain between them and the sun. They reached the rise quickly, the hanger was just beyond, Sybar and Ceryll were waiting on a small rise just ahead of them. There was noise, ships incoming. Necromonger ships, she knew that noise very well. Her bet was two ships and she was certain that they would have a full unit of soldiers each with the directive to bring them back in or kill them outright. Her instincts told her that these Necro monsters were not fond of losing. They would do anything to ensure Riddick’s death and her capture. Sybar and Ceryll hadn’t heard it and were about to go over when Riddick reached out and grabbed Ceryll’s boot causing the scruffy curly haired con to look back at him in surprise.   
“Listen,” Riddick said indicating that there was incoming ships. It took a moment before they heard it. Riddick and Jack moved up slow to look over the rise and she reached into the shadows to see what might be there. She was right. There were two full platoons of Necromonger soldiers scanning the area around the heavy dock doors. At least thirty fully armed soldiers. Looking for entrance as well as looking for them in the wasteland of the brightening landscape. She saw a couple of lensors, the odd masked creatures that could see living human flesh, they were scanning the rocks searching for them. The Purifier and Vaako were there as well. She recognized their shadows.   
“Let me guess, Necro’s,” Jack said looking at Riddick, Rehtaeh was below them she hadn’t even looked over the ridge and yet she nodded that she was correct. She could see them in the shadows, she knew exactly what was waiting for them.  
“And a whole lot of Necro fire power,” Riddick told them grimly. His low baritone voice sent shivers up and down her spine. He was warning them of the danger, and her instincts screamed at her to prepare for battle. They needed to get into the safety of the dock before they were burned away by the brightening sun.  
“Shit, I hate not being the bad guys.” Jack cursed quietly, Rehtaeh laughed softly. She knew how the kid was feeling. She also felt the rage that swept over her as the thought that her home was being defiled by these monsters, that her friends were being killed and discarded like nothing, that they were converting the people who dwelled in the Cities of Helion Prime. She suppressed it, absorbed it and fed it to her inner beast using it to prepare for a fight. “Rehtaeh, gimme a gun.”  
“Hell no, you already wasted an entire clip.” She couldn’t stop the chuckle that bubbled up at the look on Jack’s face. “You can’t bitch unless you see me miss. Besides you still have one.”  
“That’ll teach ya, Kyra,” Riddick smirked at Jack, who shot a glare back at him. Rehtaeh couldn’t help the small smile that lifted her lips.  
“Bad news, the lensors have spotted us,” Rehtaeh told them softly, through the shadows she watched as the creatures moved toward them, screeching out a warning that there was someone beyond the rocky hill. She looked up at Riddick, waiting for his order. She was exhausted, running purely on adrenaline but she would fight, she would do anything for Riddick and Jack.   
Jack was tying up her curly hair to keep it out of her face as she spoke, “I figure we got about three minutes before the sun hits us and burns out this whole valley.”  
“Wait,” Riddick told her, he was watching intently over the rise of the hill. She wondered if he heard it too. The movement of the prison guards as they prepped the ship and moved things out of the way so they could open the heavy doors. The look on his face said he not only heard it, but was timing it out.  
“We gonna do this or not?” Jackie snapped at him. Her usual impatience and impudence beginning to rise to the surface again, the girl might be a fighter, as survivor, but she was still too fucking impulsive. Rehtaeh growled at her low in her throat, a warning to listen.  
Riddick motioned for her to settle down and his deep voice said again, “Just wait.”  
“Ellen,” Ceryll said suddenly to Riddick, his eyes flicked to the prisoner for a half of a second before he looked back at the progress of the Necromongers. One of the lensors were slowly making their way closer to their hiding spot behind the rocks, while the other one noticed the human movement within the dock. Rehtaeh looked at Ceryll sharply, she had obviously missed something, she was confused, but she watched the man turn a silver ring around his finger, “Her name was Ellen, I never really forgot.”  
“Well Ceryll, we get off this rock, maybe you can find her,” Rehtaeh told the man looking him in the eye. Riddick gave her an odd look. Then she realized that he was using the man’s nickname. “What, it’s his name! I like it better than ‘the Guv’, Ceryll suits him better.”  
Ceryll gave her an odd look but smiled softly. “Ellen would say the same thing. I think you would like her, Rehtaeh.”  
There was noise as the hanger door opened and through the shadows she saw the surprised prison guards start shooting at the Necromonger invaders. There were only three left of the ten that left the prison. Picked off by her hand grenade and she was certain that Five was behind the other missing guards. Hiding behind large crates and boxes they took out one of the lensors, and the troops coming towards their hiding place in the rocks turned back toward the hanger.   
“You remember that favorite game of yours?” Riddick said to Jack rubbing his hands together. He was getting ready for the battle too. She could hear as his heart beat spiked and the adrenaline in his scent peaked pleasantly. She purred at the thrill his scent gave her.  
“Who’s the better killer?” Jack replied, her voice quiet, hiding an underlying note of enthusiasm and glee. She was looking between Rehtaeh and Riddick with curiosity.   
“Let’s play,” Riddick said to her pulling his knife. He met Jack’s eyes and an unspoken message passed between them.   
“Awesome! A game I can get behind.” Rehtaeh grinned, she felt a thrill go through her. The beast within her was ready to come back to the surface, ready to destroy and take blood from these monsters. “Do you mind if I go Mage?”  
“Have at ‘er,” Riddick told her as his lip quirked up. She grinned back, all teeth, a low feral growl churned out of her chest. Riddick’s sly leer turned into an even bigger smile and she damn near preened to be in his presence. She thrilled in it and prepared to jump into one of the many shadows that surrounded her.  
Riddick jumped out from the security of their rock formation and Rehtaeh leapt into a shadow, she came out just in enough time for her to see Riddick’s hit to the Necromonger’s head, and then grab its gun and shoot another. She had come out right behind a small group of Necro’s. She pulled out her mother’s katana and started to hack them apart, she was fast, the steel blade super sharp and she was going for the soft spots. She took out four and jumped into a shadow of another, digging one of her knives into his lumbar aorta before his shadow fell away and used it to get to a higher perch. It was chaos, the Slam guards were shooting Necros, and they were killing them too. The Necros outnumbered them all and were hard to kill. She jumped into the darkest shadows at the far end of the hangar and saw Five hunkered down gnawing on the arm of a slam guard.  
“You’ve been picking them off, one by one, haven’t you five?” Rehtaeh purred at him, with a smile. His ears perked up at her voice, and he made a contented growl. “Would you like to come hunting or are Necromongers not to your taste?”  
He leapt to his feet and joined her in the darkness. She met the beast’s eyes and touched him pulling him into the shadows with her. She spun to a perch outside and above the hanger, in a shadow big enough for the two of them. She had her bow out before she even materialized in the darkness, Five roared ferociously as he spied the fury of activity below. “Necros and guards only, the inmates are on our side. Got it? Go on then, have some fun.”  
Riddick had his Ulak blades out and was attacking like a dervish, she had taken several arrows out of her quiver and had already notched, pulled and fired one, taking out a Necro going for his back, then another. Her plan was to keep as many off of their tail as she could before she was compromised. Five took down a Necromonger and tore off his head, before one came after him with a blaster. Rehtaeh shot the man with an arrow before he could raise it towards the animal. Five looked up at her with a tilt to his head and roared before pouncing on another armor-clad piece of meat. It was then she watched Riddick swing Jack around with a heavy strap, the girl twirling through the air taking out Necro soldiers with the knives in her boots. Their brilliant tactic threw some of their opponents back, maimed others and killed at least two. She got off two more similar shots, before the Necro’s discovered her position and they started towards her. They raised their weapons towards her and seeing the need to escape quickly she reached into the shadows and came out beside Five without her jacket and her knives in her hands.   
It would be her last jump unless she went from soldier to soldier. The sun was getting brighter and brighter. She embedded one knife in the temple of one man and slit the throat of another. She and Five stalked another man as the beast took him down with a well-placed swipe to the gullet. She finished him off with a bullet to his head. Handgun in hand she was shooting anyone who came near her and Five. Two more of the prison guards were down, and then the last one fell. She stepped out of the shadows behind her next target when one of his compatriots shot her and she was thrown into the rocks that bordered the runway, landing hard on the jagged boulders. She could feel the pain as the rocks slammed into her back and shoulder. Her glasses were knocked off and the light was blinding, yet she could not close her eyes, or reach for her glasses which her shadow could see just a few feet away. She screamed in pain and Five howled in anger lunging himself recklessly at the Necromonger who had shot her, he tore him apart.   
“Rehtaeh! No!” Jack screamed as she ran to her side, Rehtaeh tried to tell the girl she would be okay, but all she could do was gasp in pain, the air not returning to her lungs. Jack pulled her off of the rocks, but she fell back and was again lost to the excruciating pain. “You cannot die, I haven’t made amends, I am so sorry, I was horrible to you and I never gave you a chance. I was jealous of you and your relationship with Riddick. I want to know you, to learn from you and thank you for saving my life, and so much more. I can’t do that if you die.”   
She was gasping for breath, her lungs not co-operating, eyelids fluttering and her violet eyes focusing on Jack’s face. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to recover, her lungs burning from complete lack of oxygen. She grabbed for Jack’s hand and tried to speak, but the words were too weak, she just couldn’t talk. Her diaphragm was in spasms and it was getting harder and harder to draw breath. She tried again and yelled as hard as she could to get her voice past her vocal chords, but when her body spoke it was a whisper, so soft, so quiet. “Not dying, can’t breathe, ribs broken. Hit me. Stomach, hit me, hard.”  
Jack shook her head, not wanting to hurt her, but finally she wound her arm back slamming her flat palm onto Rehtaeh’s abs. Rehtaeh jerked defensively into fetal position and her lungs took breath. She screamed in pain as her body reacted in shock. She sat for a moment, gathering herself, preparing to fight on. A Necro soldier came at Jack from behind and Rehtaeh lurched to her feet, launching herself over the teen at the attacker. Her fingers curled back and she screamed in rage as she plowed her hooked fingers into the flesh of the man’s throat, tore through the muscles and veins and she ripped out his trachea. She hooked the thick muscle of his tongue and pulled it out with her hand. The man fell back his tongue hanging out of his throat like a gory neck tie. Rehtaeh roared in rage.  
Jack rejoined the fight. Her own rage and blood lust was pushing her to fight harder. She stayed by Rehtaeh’s side tag-teaming their opponents as Five drove the Necro’s towards them. Jack with blades in hand was fighting off a massive Necro soldier when another came at them trying to blind side them. Five launched himself at Jack’s opponent, pinning the Necromonger to the ground as Rehtaeh ran at them. “Jack down, prep for launch!”  
She ran, stepped on Jacks shoulders just as the girl jumped, launching Rehtaeh through the air at the oncoming attacker. She somersaulted, trying to slow her momentum and gain control of her collision into the man. She planted her feet into his shoulders and sent him flying backwards, at the same time launching herself back into the air in a back tuck, landing softly on her feet. The man jumped back to his feet and came at her. She pulled her mother’s Katana from its scabbard, gripped it in both hands and met his attack, slashing downwards at an angle. Slicing him from left shoulder to right hip. Armor and all, his torso slid to the ground in two gloriously gory heaps. She turned back to see Jack and Five take down the massive Necro soldier, the blood from his throat spraying over the happy beast.  
Riddick was fighting off several Necromongers making his way towards Vaako when Sybar was shot and thrown several meters through the air into a massive out crop of boulders. Seeing his friend go down Ceryll became enraged and started shooting anything that moved. Out of nowhere Ceryll launched himself at the Purifier, without even a seconds hesitation the Purifier slammed his fist into Ceryll’s jaw and the convict was thrown back into the hanger, landing on his back on top of the ship. He slid down and crumpled to the floor. Rehtaeh jumped from Jack’s shadow to that of the boulders to check on Sybar. He was out cold, but other than a massive goose-egg and some major bruising he would be okay. She grabbed his unconscious form and hauled him through the shadows into the hangar dropping him beside Ceryll.   
Rehtaeh was reaching for the shadow to jump to Riddick’s side when Vaako shot at Riddick and the Necro he was fighting. The blast deflected off the Necro armor into Riddick, her eyes went wide as he was hit and spun up through the air.   
“Riddick!” She screamed in horror and in pain as she saw him fly helplessly through the air.   
“No!” Jack cried as he flew, her face was a mask of sheer horror. Riddick landed in the middle of the runway. Vaako was on his way towards him, his men following closely behind him, seeing the threat Rehtaeh jumped through the fallen soldier’s shadow into Vaako’s coming at him in a flying launch. She was on his back, pulling him backwards. Vaako spun with her on his back grabbing her braid and hauling her around to face him. Screaming in a pained rage, she slammed her right fist into Vaako’s jaw, his head snapped to the side. Her other hand came up with one of her blades, her intention to strike at his throat. He caught her hand and slowly pushed her threatening hand away from his neck. He twisted and turned her knife hand until she released. Without the knife she pulled back her arm to hit him again. He deflected defensively with his one hand, he wrapped the other around her trying to pin her against him, to stop her attacks.   
She felt a sudden pain in her left shoulder as something hard impacted against her flak jacket, she could feel the protective armor bend inward rapidly striking her scapula and her ribs with massive amounts of pressure. The flak jacket was still intact, but there was no protection from the hit. There was no penetration, whatever hit her did the damage internally. With every breath the pieces of bone from her shoulder blade dug themselves deeper into her flesh. Her ribs underneath the jacket were completely shattered. It was a feeling that she remembered well, only this time the wound was much more severe. She could feel the blood filling her lung at a rapid pace. Even her heart was not beating right, the timing was off, it was becoming thready and weak. The gravity gun that hit her was set to its highest level. High-velocity impact.   
“No!” Vaako screamed as he realized what happened. He looked at the Necromonger who shot her and he raised his gun, one shot to the head on high velocity took out the man’s skull, his body falling to the ground. He held her against him, she looked up at his brown eyes as the blood filled her lungs, she was so confused. He held her like a lover as he whispered, “I wanted you alive. You were to be my prize for killing him. You were supposed to be mine.”  
“I will never be yours, I belong to Riddick.” She coughed, she could taste the blood as her throat filled.   
Vaako was gentle as he eased her onto the ground, he cradled her head. He was freezing cold. His body pressed against hers was colder than ice. She could feel his hands in her hair, she could feel his lips on her face, but she didn’t care. She just wanted Riddick, looking over where he was trying to rise, struggling to get to his feet. He was watching Vaako with look of rage on his face. She looked upon him, memorizing him, his tall form, his broad shoulders, such a beautiful predator of a man. Even with the goggles covering his eyes, she could see the raw pain on his usually stoic face. She reached for him, her hand and fingers reached for him around the body of the Necromonger Commander.   
She was enveloped with a deep cold, no longer able to tell if it came from Vaako or from the loss of blood. The edges of her sight grew darker and darker, though she strained to see, strained to keep her eyes focused on the only man she would ever love. She felt her body convulse with pain and wracking coughs shook her as her lungs struggled to continue breathing around the blood that filled them. Her chest was tight from the pressure, she choked on the blood as her brain refused to believe she was dying, refused to believe that it was even possible.   
She watched in agony as Riddick's face faded into blackness.

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.


End file.
